'Personal Services' pair cry foul on show

A couple who featured in Channel 4's Personal Services Required, made by "Queengate" production company RDF Media, have complained that they were misrepresented in the programme.

Danny and Gabriella Grasso trialled three prospective housekeepers at their five-bedroom home in Bedfordshire after being approached by programme makers.

Last week's episode saw Wendy-Anne Passmore, whom the Grassos selected, questioning whether the £250 per week they had offered was less than the minimum wage. Danny said he was considering taking legal action against RDF for libel over the suggestion.

"It gave the impression we were asking them to work a 16-hour day, which is wrong," he said. "We were offering separate living accommodation and food with all utility bills paid; there's no way that's below the minimum wage.

"The suggestion is that we were doing something effectively illegal, which is not good for my business, as I run a recruitment agency. I'm running this issue past some libel lawyers."

RDF said it believed the programme was fair: "The producers of the show promised to provide people who were looking for work as housekeepers, and would have the right experience and motivation.

"The programme does observe a moment where Wendy-Ann Passmore raises the question to camera of whether or not her salary offer was in fact a minimum wage. We are satisfied that the programme as broadcast was a fair and accurate representation of what happened."

RDF's creative director Stephen Lambert and Peter Fincham, then controller of BBC One, were forced to resign last summer after preview footage from a documentary wrongly depicted the Queen storming out of a photoshoot.