Davies says Jonathan Ross is ‘dreadful’

Andrew Davies (pictured), the acclaimed television screenwriter, believes that Jonathan Ross should have been sacked for his part in the so-called 'Manuelgate' affair. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Davies, who famously had Jane Austen's Mr Darcy emerge dripping from a lake clad only in a shirt in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, said: "Ross is paid a lot of money for behaving like a rude 14-year-old. I also hate the way he does those award shows, belittling the efforts of the people who are getting the awards and so on. I think he's an appalling fellow and it would be very nice if he wasn't seen at all."

Ross returns to the nation's television screens and airwaves in January when his three-month ban for leaving an obscene message on the answerphone of Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs expires. But Davies, whose adaptation of Sarah Walter's novel Affinity was screened on ITV 1 on Sunday, feels the presenter got off far too lightly.

"Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand calling Andrew Sachs in such an offensive way, in order to make themselves seem somehow trendy and amusing, leaves me cold," he said.

Davies was similarly minded about Ross's interview with David Cameron on his show, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, in which the Tory leader was asked if her ever had sexual fantasies about Lady Thatcher. Davies said: "I'm not especially keen on Cameron, but Ross's treatment of him made me feel sorry for him."