Hanging on the telephone

zoom

When an offensive phone call by BBC stars Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand to Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs made it to the airwaves, it caused a public outrage. Heads have since rolled, while headlines have been aplenty...

The Times

"The BBC has been urged by ministers to end the culture of ‘fat cat' pay for top presenters or risk cuts to its £3.4 billion a year of public funding," said The Times.

"Andy Burnham, the culture secretary, has issued a warning that the seven-figure contracts given to stars such as Jonathan Ross are undermining licence fee payers' confidence in the broadcaster.

"Burnham is understood to have told Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, that the corporation needed to show ‘sensitivity and an awareness of where the public are'. Ministers believe the recession has fuelled hostility to the elite presenters who are insulated from the economic downturn.

"Ross, who is on an £18m three-year contract, was last week suspended without pay for three months over obscene telephone calls made to Andrew Sachs, the Fawlty Towers actor, during a Radio 2 show.

The row puts BBC chiefs in an awkward position. They are keen to hang on to Ross, but they cannot renegotiate his salary until his contract comes up for renewal next year.

Guardian

"Jonathan Ross is to step down from presenting this year's British Comedy Awards following the ‘Sachsgate' affair," said the broadsheet.

"Although he is only suspended from BBC shows for his part in the prank calls to actor Andrew Sachs, Ross decided not to go ahead with fronting the ITV1 show in December ‘with the agreement of ITV'.

"A spokesman for Ross said: ‘It's a show he very much enjoys being part of but [he] would not want his participation in this year's event to take away from the awards themselves or the many talented winners of the awards."

The Guardian quoted ITV director of television, Peter Fincham as saying: "We respect Jonathan's decision to stand down from the 2008 British Comedy Awards which has been made with the full support of ITV and the show's producers."

"Ross has presented the British Comedy Awards ... for the past 17 years. The presenter has come to epitomise the edgy awards ceremony with his famously controversial introduction and links. An ITV spokesman said it is not yet known who will replace Ross."

CNN

The furore also made headlines in the US. "The BBC's highest paid star has been suspended for 12 weeks without pay and a senior executive has resigned over a series of abusive telephone calls made by two of its stars," reported CNN, referring to the resignation of Lesley Douglas, Controller of BBC Radio 2, over the scandal.

"Comedian Russell Brand, 33, and talkshow host Jonathan Ross, 47, have been at the center of a row after they attempted to contact comedy actor Andrew Sachs for an interview on Brand's weekend Radio 2 show earlier this month. The prank calls row has already claimed the scalp of Brand, who resigned.

"Now Ross ... has been suspended from all broadcasting for 12 weeks after the BBC Trust, the sovereign body of the organisation, met to discuss the calls.

"Ross and Brand rang Sachs - who played a Spanish waiter in John Cleese's 1970s TV comedy Fawlty Towers - but when it dawned on them that he was not around, they left a series of messages on the veteran actor's phone, joking about Brand's relationship with Sachs' granddaughter Georgina Baillie, 23.

Daily Record

"Shamed Jonathan Ross celebrates Halloween with lavish alien party a day after suspension" screamed the headline in the Scottish newspaper.

"He's suspended from his £6million-a-year job in disgrace but Jonathan Ross was in party mood last night. Despite the continuing storm over the Andrew Sachs scandal, the brass-necked star entertained his showbiz pals at an extravagant, alien-themed Halloween bash at his £3million London mansion.

"Ross's BBC colleagues will be astonished that he chose to go ahead with the high-profile event after he and Russell Brand dragged the corporation's name through the mud," the paper said.

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM