Transcript: the calls made by Brand and Ross

Ofcom, the broadcasting watchdog, announced today that it was launching an investigation into a succession of lewd phone calls made by BBC presenters Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross to Andrew Sachs, the Fawlty Towers actor.

The regulator said that it would probe the calls, which were made during Brand’s Radio 2 show one week ago, in which the pair left messages for Sachs claiming that Brand had slept with his granddaughter, Georgina Baillie, 23.

Some MPs and media pressure groups have called for Brand and Ross to be sacked, as the row entered its third day showing no signs of abating. One government minister today raised the temperature further by saying the behaviour was not "in keeping with broadcasting".

Mr Sachs' agent confirmed this afternoon that Mr Ross had sent a letter of apology, including a bunch of flowers.

David Cameron, the Tory leader, said that the BBC had a lot of questions to answer about why the pre-recorded programme was cleared to go on air, and why it took so long before an apology was issued.

"The BBC needs to be transparent about how it takes decisions so that everyone can see what more needs to be done," said Mr Cameron. "We need to know who made the decision to broadcast it? How high up the editorial chain did it go? Who examined it? Why did they conclude it should be broadcast?"

David Hanson, a Justice Minister, today urged Ross and Brand to say sorry. "I do feel that both Mr Ross and Mr Brand do have to make an apology with regard to the broadcast that was made," he said, during his department's fortnightly question time in the Commons. “I don’t think it was appropriate. I don’t think it was in keeping with broadcasting.”

Nigel Evans, the Tory MP for Ribble Valley, and Andrew Mackinlay, Labour MP for Thurrock, tabled an early day motion condemning the abusive calls as base, vulgar and likely to diminish the reputation of the BBC.

Mr Evans went further and suggested that the police should launch their own investigation. "I would sack both comedians," he said. "Who do they have to offend, and in what manner do they have to offend people, before the BBC takes action?"

The BBC yesterday apologised for the "unacceptable and offensive" material. The corporation also said it would investigate why the programme was approved for broadcast. More than 4,700 complaints have now been lodged about it.

It emerged today that Brand and Ross have made personal apologies to Sachs for the series of messages they left on his answerphone after he failed to answer calls for a pre-arranged interview. Ross sent flowers with his letter, said Sachs' spokeswoman. "(Sachs) appreciated it was a nice letter and (Ross) meant what he said."

Today the BBC Trust said that its editorial standards committee was waiting to hear an account from BBC management of what had happened, and that a full report would go to a meeting of the Trust's board on November 20.

In the offending messages, left on Sachs' answerphone, Brand told listeners: "What Andrew doesn’t know is, I’ve slept with his granddaughter."

Ross, 47, shouted: "He f***** your granddaughter." Ross also speculated that Brand had "enjoyed" Georgina on a swing, and the pair also joked that Sachs, 78, could kill himself over the incident.

A spokesman for Ofcom said: "Ofcom has launched an investigation into the Russell Brand show broadcast on BBC Radio 2.

"All UK broadcasters must adhere to Ofcom's Broadcasting Code which sets standards for the content of television and radio broadcasting. It also deals with issues such as fairness and privacy."

"Ofcom carries out investigations into possible breaches of the Code to protect audiences and citizens from harm."

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