With half of England scandalised by the actions of two of its favourite comedians, Marie Kemplay asks whether it is all justified

I must admit I do actually quite like Jonathan Ross. His Friday night questioning of people from all corners of celebrity is one of my favourite programmes and as a result of his suspension my Friday evenings will be far less entertaining. Granted tonight I’ll be too busy stumbling around in whatever costume I can find in Tesco later.

But I find myself thinking is Jonathan Ross really the reason why I tune in on a Friday or is for the celebrities themselves. And is Russell Brand really that funny or is it his scriptwriters? I went to watch his chat show being filmed last year and it was one of the most disillusioning experiences. He read the entire thing off an autocue and then threw in a bit of gesticulation and outlandish phraseology for good measure. They both have over-inflated egos that would benefit from being knocked down a couple of pegs.

I’m not baying for blood in the same way a lot of the right wing press appear to be but I do agree the line has to be drawn somewhere. The content of the message left on Andrew Sachs mobile was pretty disgusting, with Ross shouting “he f***** you granddaughter” and Brand retaliating “it’s ok I used a condom”.

The whole thing just reeks of stupidity; this was a BBC Radio 2 programme not a late night TV special, and they were leaving messages on a 78 year old man’s answer phone, someone you would perhaps expect to speak to more respectfully. As for Georgina Baillie, regardless of whether she is a “Satanic Slut” I’m sure she doesn’t want her sex life broadcast to the nation. You really would have expected Brand, Ross and whoever authorised the broadcast to know better.

But that was all it was, stupidity, certainly not enough to warrant Lesley Davies, Controller of Radio 2, a highly competent woman and who by all accounts did nothing wrong in this so called ‘scandal’, losing her job. Brand was right to resign, his radio show would never have been received in the same way and it was right that Ross was suspended, the BBC needed breathing space - but as even Andrew Sachs admitted performers make mistakes.

The BBC is a fantastic institution, highly regarded worldwide and something of which we should be immensely proud, of course it has its problems but that doesn’t mean we should allow it to be trounced out of all recognition by the right wing media. We want a broadcaster that’s willing to take risks, not one held back by the worst aspects conservative (with a small c) society.

Tags: BBC, Digital TV //