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Transcript on the infamous phone messages here!

Jonathon Ross Future Hangs In The Brink

The BBC is considering ditching ‘Edgy Comedy’ from their catalogue. This comes in the light of the huge storm that has been created over the Russell Brand, Jonathon Ross escapade which took place on October the 18th when controversial characters, Brand and Ross were hosting an as live Radio 2 show. After a series of prank phone calls to respected actor, Andrew Sachs, 78, (Manuel) of Fawlty Towers at two in the morning, their outcome looked decidedly bleak.

An emergency meeting is being held today to decide the future of Jonathon Ross, BBC’s highest ever paid presenter. Both presenters were suspended from their jobs with the BBC yesterday pending an Ofcom and BBC internal enquiry. There has been huge uproar concerning this affair and it has given disgruntled TV license holders the chance to air their feelings and have their say. Over 30, 000 calls of complaint have been flooding into the BBC since the Radio Show aired on October the 18th.

At a press call, in a surprise announcement last night, Russell Brand resigned from his post as radio presenter for the BBC. He stated he did not want to bring any more embarrassment to the corporation. He thanked them for his opportunities that they had given him and he said that he would take full responsibility for the incident. He went on to say that Jonathon Ross is a family man and didn’t mean any harm by his actions.

The tone of the messages left during the Radio show went from bad to worse as Brand and Ross got carried away in the comedy moment. It started as a prank but very soon got out of hand. The two presenters cast a shadow over Mr Sachs granddaughter’s reputation. Georgina Baillie, 23, who was so distressed by the inappropriate messages, that she offered to ‘tell all’ in the Sun newspaper yesterday. Ms Baillie and Mr Brand were actually an item back in 20006 and Jonathon Ross had said on the answerphone message left for Sachs, that Brand had slept with his granddaughter.

The Radio Show had been pre-recorded and Mr Sachs had been assured that on airing that all offensive messages would be edited out. Well they weren’t. So someone amongst the BBC staff had not done their job properly. Director General of the BBC, Mark Thompson, meets the BBC Trust, former governing body, today and it is they who represent the licence fee payers. The internal enquiry should shed some light on the subject and then the blame will then be apportioned accordingly, one would have thought.

Before a show airs on the radio it has to pass a checklist called the audio and music compliance form, which would be tick boxed, authorised, and then signed off by the producers. The problem here was, that the show was actually a production by Russell Brands own Company, ‘Vanity Projects’, and not the BBC. Could it be that somewhere in the system, confusion was caused because of this, and that there was no checklist authorised, or signed off at all? Or was it a matter of sheer incompetence on the part of whoever passed this show through as suitable.

At the National TV awards last night there was strong support from the celebrities for the shamed presenters and Davina McCall had this to say about the scandal, “They were two boys just being quite silly”. They are comedians. They shouldn’t be nationally vilified over this incident”. Well, we will find out very soon just where Jonathon Ross stands with the BBC. Ross is on a three year contract with them, which has cost the BBC a phenomenal £18 million pound.-

This whole thing has turned into a fiasco and the public are demanding immediate resolve. Jonathon Ross is in a very sticky situation indeed and he may just be made, by the magnitude of his profile, the scapegoat of this sorry tale. -

Christianna Garrett-Martin

Transcript on the infamous phone messages here!

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