Brand resigns over Sachs calls

Broadcaster Russell Brand today resigned from his BBC Radio 2 programme over the lewd phone calls he and fellow broadcaster Jonathan Ross made to the Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs. His resignation followed the announcement by BBC director-general Mark Thompson earlier today that the two men were to be suspended and all their shows - including Ross's television programmes - taken off air until the BBC has fully investigated the incident.

Thompson, whose statement followed a call from Gordon Brown that "appropriate action" be taken, said: "This gross lapse of taste by the performers and the production team has angered licence payers." He offered his "own personal and unreserved apology to Andrew Sachs, his family and to licence fee payers for the completely unacceptable broadcast".

The controversy, which has now attracted 18,000 complaints from licence holders and is to be investigated by the broadcasting watchdog Ofcom, began on October 18 when Ross was a guest on Brand's show and they attempted to telephone Sachs for an arranged interview but were answered by his voicemail service. Brand told listeners: "What Andrew doesn't know is, I've slept with his granddaughter." As he left a message for the actor, Ross, 47, shouted: "He fucked your granddaughter."

Before today's various announcements, Sachs himself had accepted a written apology from Ross, but his granddaughter, Georgina Baillie, 23, a member of the dance troupe Satanic Sluts Extreme, told the Sun newspaper that the BBC should sack Brand and Ross.

Because of the D-G's suspension of the two men, this week's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross television show, which was to have been filmed today with guests Frank Skinner, Miley Cyrus and Sir David Attenborough, will not be broadcast. Ross's Saturday morning radio show, and Brand's Saturday night radio show, have been pulled from Radio 2's schedules

Meanwhile, comedian Helen Zaltzman, who ran a comedy club where Brand performed before he became famous, offered a more rational assessment of the row. She told BBC Radio Five Live that it was well-known that Brand and Ross "toe a particularly risky line" and said that was why millions of people listened to their Radio 2 shows. She added: "I'm sure they regret this trouble. But, I think the reason why Russell Brand is popular is because... he is a liability. He was sacked from MTV, he was sacked from XFM. This is why people are interested in him as a broadcaster - and why, presumably, he got employed and has a very popular show - about which the majority of people didn't complain."

But Zaltzman was speaking before Brand decided to resign from the show he has hosted since November 2006 and for which he is believed to have been paid £200,000 a year. Brand said he took "complete responsibility" for the Sachs phone calls and that he got "caught up in the moment".