Rebel BBC staff plan to sabotage shows?

Rebel BBC staff are planning to sabotage live television shows in protest at job cut proposals, according to a newspaper report.

About 150 employees are said to be lining up unofficial direct action affecting lighting and sound during programmes.

It would be in response to plans for 2,500 job losses and official union leaders declining to call an immediate strike ballot.

A hit list for the protests reportedly includes Strictly Come Dancing and coverage of the England v Croatia Euro 2008 qualifier next month.

One production worker involved explained: "Strictly Come Dancing is the BBC's jewel in the crown of live shows so that is our number one target.

"We will ruin it by deliberately causing technical problems with the sound, the lighting and the cameras during live broadcasts."

He told the Sunday Mirror: "The beauty is that none of us have been involved in any union activity so we will be regarded by the bosses as workers who are toeing the line and who don't pose any threat.

"We know we will upset fans of the show with this action but our feeling is that the unions have not been firm enough and we want to hit the BBC where it really hurts."