Posts Tagged ‘andrew sachs’

Speculation surrounds the departure of Jonathan Ross from the BBC after 13 years – did he jump or was he pushed?
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A couple of news snippets on YouTube in which I comment on the ongoing crisis at the BBC.

The Borkowski poet in residence’s take on Jonathan Ross’ part in the scandal currently consuming the press. Vocal rights for this podcast have been subcontracted to EDF.

Jonathan Ross is, Jonathan Ross is
a sacrificial lamb for the BBC bosses
he may be cheeky, sweary and slick
a gold plated carrot on the end of a stick
but however many kids he got watching the box
his stellar career is now on the rocks
at least at the Beeb, where he’s put on ice
for phoning up actors and not being nice

but Jonathan Ross is, Jonathan Ross is
perfectly capable of cutting his losses
he could go anywhere, and quickly get work
with a wink and a wave and a quirky smirk.

Jonathan Ross is, Jonathan Ross is
highly unlikely to be carrying crosses
he won’t walk on water but he’s not going to drown
however much the press try to push him down.

 

 The Jonathan Ross Song: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The suspension of Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand by the BBC over their boorish and lewd phone call to Andrew Sachs is a definite case of the BBC finally sitting back and taking a look at their media stock after a week of keeping its collective head in the sand,

Suspension is the equivalent to the mediaeval practice of putting offenders in the stocks in a market place and letting passers by throw rotten fruit at them – the only difference being that the rotten fruit thrown is ink and pixel and the people throwing it are the media and vocal and irate people many of whom most  probably rarely or never listen to the show, which airs after the watershed.

I cannot imagine that this will last too long – Ross is a vital brand for the BBC, who need to cling on to their younger audience in a fractured media world. Ross and Brand could get jobs anywhere they liked, and it is worth asking who is likely to be able to replace them at the corporation. With Brand gone of his own volition, we must watch and wait to see what happens next.

Yes, there are complaints flooding in about their shock jock tactics, but this is from a vocal minority, which is tiny compared to the audience base they attract. Yes, what they unloaded on Sachs was boorish, vulgar and unpleasant, but no puppies were drowned. The disgust at Brand and Ross’ call divides along the boundaries between young and old. Many older Radio 2 listeners would not be caught dead listening to the show. Many of the target audience think that what they did was funny and not much different from the sort of pranking that mobile phone-owning teenagers do to each other every day of the week.

The truth is that this would never have hit the airwaves if a producer at the BBC had stepped back for a moment and said ‘This isn’t nice, we can’t air this.’ Certainly, Ross and Brand are culpable insomuch as they made the call to Andrew Sachs in the first place, but they are not finally responsible for what goes on the air if the item was pre-recorded, as this was. I spoke to Jonathan Ross, who said that he assumed that the producers had cleared everything with Sachs, since the broadcast was going ahead.

It is a mistake to associate all blame with the two stars when clearly the people in authority at the BBC have no perception of what is over the line, of what should and should not be broadcast.

I think that the suspension is a PR gesture to take the heat off whilst the BBC look into this in depth. I would suggest that the BBC are going to use the suspension as a chance to make Ross think about his actions and to look into what happened, but I hope that they will look at the producers of the show with equal scrutiny. One thing is certain, the BBC didn’t move quickly enough on this matter – is it possible that they have let the story build out of all proportion because of the low profile of the station controller. Lesley Douglas?

I cannot believe that the BBC would completely remove Ross for something he is not entirely responsible for, however boorish it may be. I am certain that they will rehabilitate him, in much the same way that Kate Moss was rehabilitated after the cocaine scandals of a couple of years ago.

Moss, it should be remembered, lost several contracts before bouncing back more successful than ever. The BBC would be kicking themselves as hard as some of the people who dropped Kate Moss must have been if they bow to the pressure of a vocal minority and let Jonathan Ross follow Russell Brand by taking his anarchic brand of humour to a rival broadcaster.

However, with even Gordon Brown using the furore to divert the news agenda away from headlines about the shocking state of the economy and certain papers, those that hate the BBC paying entertainers large salaries, sticking the knife in at every opportunity, anything could happen – as, indeed, Brand’s falling on his sword proves. Unfortunately, the story has all the toxic ingredients: cock-slinging maverick; old comedy icon; racy granddaughter; TV host the midmarkets have an issue with. Add to that the BBC’s foolish display of heel-dragging over making a statement and the conflagration could take out a lot more than just the careers of Ross and Brand.

If you are surrounded by the press, being bombarded by difficult questions about something you’ve done, something that you may or may not be ashamed of, but are definitely unwilling to talk about, there is a new model of zen-like avoidance technique, thanks to the ever-inventive Russell Brand.

Click here to see Brand say absolutely nothing about his involvement in the abusive phone calls to Andrew Sachs. He speaks in a charming manner, using words that imply friendly (if somewhat zany) intentions yet which state nothing concrete at all.

Russell Brand, PR fixers past and present would be proud of you!

Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand have sparked a lather of frothing outrage with their series of lewd messages on the answerphone of Andrew Sachs, who starred as Manuel in Fawlty Towers, detailing an alleged sexual liason between Brand and Sachs’ granddaughter Georgina Baille (click here to read the transcript).

I feel some sympathy for Sachs and his granddaughter, but what do people expect when Brand and Ross get together? Brand makes a living from his controversial approach to sexuality and Ross caused a storm a while back by asking Conservative leader David Cameron if he had ever had teenage sexual fantasies about former prime minister Margaret Thatcher and referring to a lewd act.

Brand and Ross’ verbal tirade is the latest in a long line of comedic outrages – does anyone remember Julian Clary’s comment about fisting a few years back at an awards show for example? No one inside or outside the BBC should be too surprised that something blew up – the Beeb must have hoped that having these two together on the radio would stir up a welter of controversy and publicity. And now they have it. In spades.

It is worth asking, in light of this, if all publicity is good publicity. Certainly not for the corporate suits at the Beeb, but it’s a great day at the office for those concerned with the careers of Brand and co, whose cult stock is likely to rise considerably, however much they are forced to apologise.

One thing I am certain of is that Sachs’ granddaughter, Georgina Baille, a model who has auditioned for Page 3 in the past and is a member of a burlesque troupe called the Satanic Sluts, will get a welter of job offers and interest in the wake of the controversy, whether or not she actually slept with Brand. The photos of her that have been plucked from the internet by numerous papers (see below) certainly suggest that she might be willing (and even able) to cope with a flurry of media interest.

The saddest thing about the whole affair is that two hip youngish comedians felt it necessary to be so flagrantly disrespectful to a member of the old guard. The blunt truth of it is that they were as casually brutal to Andrew Sachs as Basil Fawlty ever was to Manuel – and all because the 78 year old missed a phone call he was supposed to be taking for the radio show.

Georgina Baillie, centre