The BBC Trust has published its report on the whole Sachs-gate affair, and as previously suggested, at the core of the whole episode is a confusion which stemmed from a conversation between the producer of the Russell Brand show, Nic Philps, and Andrew Sachs, after Brand and Jonathan Ross had left those lewd messages on the latter's answer phone.
Philps thought Sachs had OKed the airing of the messages in a conversation which also saw the producer book the Fawlty Towers actor to reappear for a proper interview on the next week's show. Sachs says he did no such thing, though concedes it is possible Philps did genuinely believe he had his consent from the conversation, albeit with some 'wishful thinking' on the producer's part.
An email correspondence has been published between Philps and Radio 2 head of compliance Dave Barber in which he raises the nature of the phone calls to Sachs, but argues that they should be allowed to air because they are "very funny". He adds that Sachs is "aware of it and happy". Another email sees Barber updating a holidaying Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas on his discussions with Philps, again stressing Sachs was OK with the programme. She gives the final go ahead for the pre-recorded show to be broadcast.
That decision was, the BBC Trust said on Friday, wrong, wrong, wrong. Whether nor not Sachs had approved the sequence it was, anyway, an "unacceptable and deplorable intrusion" into the life of Sachs' grand-daughter Georgina Baillie, whose fling with Brand was the subject of the lewd messages. What was aired was "grossly offensive". The Trust also criticised the way the affair was handled once it was clear the Mail On Sunday planned to splash with the messages, and the fact Sachs had not, in fact, OKed them. A complaint from Sachs' agent had gone unnoticed because it was in the holidaying Douglas' email. This left the BBC incorrectly telling reporters, including its own news teams, that they were "unaware of any complaint" having been submitted.
Despite the Trust being highly critical of Ross, Brand and various BBC execs - and in particular the now gone Barber and Douglas - the Beeb's regulator said it supported the Corporation's decision to suspend rather than fire Jonathan Ross. As previously reported, Ross will return to the BBC in February. Trust chairman Michael Lyons said: "We are very clear that the director-general [Mark Thompson] has taken the right action with respect to Jonathan Ross".
In related news, Coronation Street bosses have denied they are cashing in on Sachs-gate following reports the aging actor is about to be hired by the soap opera. They insist that the actor was being sounded out about a role in the programme prior to the Brand/Ross affair.
In also slightly related news, Angus Deayton - himself once involved in a bit of a scandal that forced him to quit the BBC - has been announced as the host of this year's ITV-screened British Comedy Awards, which Ross normally hosts. Ross announced he would not be involved in his only non-BBC TV project shortly after Sachs-gate erupted.
Although the Trust's report, published on Friday, completes the BBC's internal investigation of the affair, media regulator OfCom is still investigating the complaints it received.