BBC fined £150,000 over Sachs controversy

Ofcom has fined the BBC £150,000 over its handling of the Andrew Sachs phone call controversy.

The TV regulator ruled that the Corporation had breached the Broadcasting Code on two occasions in deciding to air the incident, which involved radio hosts Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross leaving a series of lewd voicemail messages for the veteran actor.

Ofcom said that the broadcast had "unwarrantably and seriously infringed" the privacy of Sachs and his granddaughter Georgina Baillie - a performer with burlesque group the Satanic Sluts - and described the programme as "gratuitously offensive, humiliating and demeaning".

"We accept Ofcom's findings," said the BBC in a statement this morning. "As we said last October, this material should never have been broadcast and we apologised unreservedly for that.

"We note that Ofcom has found that senior management acted swiftly to mitigate the offence and damage caused by the breaches of the Code."

The statement added: "The BBC has since taken comprehensive action to deal with what were unacceptable failures in editorial judgement and compliance which led to the broadcast."

As well as issuing the fine, Ofcom has also ordered Radio 2 to broadcast a summary of its findings.

Brand resigned from his Radio 2 show after the furore in October last year. Station controller Lesley Douglas also quit, while Jonathan Ross was suspended without pay for 12 weeks.