Andrew Sachs blasts Ross, Brand

Andrew Sachs has accused Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand of making "hollow" apologies at the height of the Manuelgate scandal.

Ross and Brand both expressed contrition in personal letters to the Fawlty Towers star after their telephone stunt sparked outrage from the public.

The controversial incident, which occurred in October last year, saw the pair leaving lewd messages on Sachs's answerphone during a recording of Brand's Radio 2 show.

Despite apologising to Sachs at the time, Ross criticised the media's response to the scandal when he appeared at the Baftas last month. Meanwhile, Brand has hit back at MPs who continue to condemn his behaviour.

In a new interview with the Daily Mail, Sachs explained: "[I received] very, very nice letters. Both of them apologising profusely: 'Forgive me, I was a bloody idiot to do it, I'm terribly sorry', all of that. Really very convincing. They look a bit hollow now. I didn't answer them. I thought: 'I'll just leave it a little'.

"Now, as a result of what [Ross] said at the Baftas, I'm so glad I didn't because clearly it was a publicity message and they didn't mean it.

"I keep the letters because they're interesting documents that bear very little relation to their real feelings. I think they just thought: 'I'd better write a nice letter here'. It's made no difference. They seem to shrug it off and behave just as badly."

The BBC was recently fined £150,000 by broadcasting watchdog Ofcom over its handling of the situation.