The Russell Brand Show prank telephone calls row

In an episode of BBC's The Russell Brand Show broadcast on Saturday 18 October 2008, comedian Russell Brand and presenter Jonathan Ross left prank calls made to actor Andrew Sachs that led to controversy. Brand and Ross had called Sachs to interview on-air; when he did not answer, they left a series of lewd messages on his answering machine, including comments about Brand's relationship with Sachs' granddaughter, Georgina Baillie. After scant attention, a 26 October article in The Mail on Sunday led to widespread criticism of Brand, Ross and the editorial decisions of the BBC, with the event becoming known as "Sachsgate" or "Manuelgate" (a reference to Sachs's character Manuel).

Brand and Ross were criticised by a number of Members of Parliament, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and the BBC received a record number of complaints. The BBC suspended Ross while it and Ofcom launched investigations. Both Brand and Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas resigned from the BBC. On 30 October, the BBC suspended Ross without pay for 12 weeks. The BBC was fined £150,000 by Ofcom.

From April 2006 through to October 2008, Russell Brand presented the weekly BBC radio show The Russell Brand Show. In almost every show Brand was joined by his co-host Matt Morgan who would often steer him in certain directions regarding what to talk about. Brand sometimes called in a variety of his celebrity friends as well, including Noel Gallagher, Alan Carr and Jonathan Ross, to talk on the show each week.

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