Crude prank calls broke BBC rules

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Lewd telephone calls by two British comedians to a well-known actor, which were aired in a BBC radio program, were "grossly offensive" and should never have taken place, the public broadcaster's watchdog group said Friday.

In its published findings on the calls by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand, as well as other recent controversial programming, the BBC Trust said there was "no justification" for airing the material.

Ross, the BBC's highest-paid talent, was suspended without pay for 12 weeks after the incident last month. The trust did not call for further punishment, so he is expected to return to his job with the BBC.

Brand, a controversial comedian and host of the Radio 2 program which aired the calls, quit last month after he was suspended.

Both men have apologized for the incident. A top BBC official -- Lesley Douglas, controller of Radio 2, -- resigned as well, apologizing for having let the broadcast happen "on my watch."

The row centers on an incident on Brand's Saturday evening radio program October 18. The two men left a series of crude messages for actor Andrew Sachs, who played Spanish waiter Manuel in the 1970s TV comedy series "Fawlty Towers."

In the messages, the men joked -- using explicit language -- about Brand's sexual relationship with Sachs' granddaughter, Georgina Baillie. At one point, Ross joked that Sachs probably had a photo of his granddaughter when she was a young girl and would see the photo as he listened to the messages.

The two men also joked that Sachs might kill himself on hearing the news -- then made further calls in which they said they were attempting to apologize, but were also abusive.

Baillie, a 23-year-old London burlesque entertainer, told The Sun newspaper that she was "disgusted" by the incident, but also confirmed she had had a sexual relationship with Brand.

Sachs has said he accepts the two performers' apologies, adding, "I'm not out for revenge or anything like that."

But some BBC listeners were furious. More than 30,000 people complained to the BBC about the offensive material as the story became front page tabloid news.

Taxpayers contribute $5.5 billion toward the BBC's budget. Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the broadcast "unacceptable."

Anger grew after British media reported the program was taped in advance, and under BBC editorial guidelines required approval before air.

In its findings published Friday, the BBC Trust wrote: "The recording and broadcast of these remarks was humiliating to Mr. Sachs, Ms. Baillie and their families and represented an unacceptable and deplorable intrusion into their private lives.

"No BBC content should reveal intimate details about the private lives of individuals without their consent or without editorial justification."

The incident sparked hand-wringing at the BBC, and the trust -- an independent body tasked with serving as an editorial watchdog -- said management had failed to keep an adequate watch on Brand's "high-risk" program despite the controversial nature of his humor.

Brand made international headlines as host of the MTV Video Music Awards in September, when he called U.S. President George W. Bush a "retarded cowboy."

At a news conference Friday, Richard Tait, chair of the BBC Trust's editorial standards committee, said the October program aired because the BBC did not follow its guidelines.

"In our view, proper editorial control might have prevented the material ever being recorded in the first place and, had the established compliance systems been followed and the correct editorial judgments applied, the material would not have been broadcast," he said.

He cited "serious misjudgments" by senior management as well.

Tait said the trust supports a decision made by BBC executives to "review the caliber and training" of executives "and their ability to ask the right questions."

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