The BBC’s governing body put strict controls last night on presenters considered to pose a “high risk” of upsetting older licence-fee payers.

After a day of emergency talks at the Westminster headquarters of the BBC Trust, Sir Michael Lyons, its chairman, ordered the corporation to “strengthen immediately” editorial controls to avoid a repeat of the lewd phone-call fiasco that cost Lesley Douglas, the Controller of Radio 2, her job.

Mark Thompson, the BBC Director-General, promised “tight discipline” over presenters with a reputation for pushing the boundaries of taste and offence and announced a review of where the appropriate boundaries should lie across all BBC output.

Although Jonathan Ross, who is paid £6 million annually by the BBC, escaped from the row with his job, Mr Thompson said that he had made it “very clear to him the central importance of the clause in his contract about not bringing the BBC into disrepute”. He added: “We agree that nothing like this must ever happen again and that tight discipline will be required for the future.”

Presenting his report to the BBC Trust, Mr Thompson promised that all radio programmes would be “reassessed for editorial risk”. All those identified as representing a “high risk” would have “additional and strong oversight”. The controls will focus on programmes where the production company is owned by the presenter, as with Russell Brand’s show.

The first performer to come under scrutiny will be George Lamb, the 6 Music breakfast DJ hired by Ms Douglas. Listeners complained last month after Lamb mocked and insulted Ray Davies, the former lead singer of the Kinks, during a “comedy” phone call. He was clearly upset after he hung up.

The call would not have been broadcast in that form under the guidelines being drawn up by Tim Davie, the BBC head of audio and music. However, there are fears that the BBC will take a censorious approach to innovative performers. Noel Gallagher, of Oasis, who is a friend of Brand, told Radio Ulster: “There’s now a massive divide. Them and us. At worst it was a juvenile prank that wasn’t unfunny — but it’s hardly offensive.”

David Walliams, the Little Britain comic, visited Brand yesterday in a clear display of solidarity.

Don Foster, the Liberal Democrat media spokesman, was one of few politicians to display sympathy with the disgraced broadcasters. He said: “We should all think long and hard about what will happen to many of the wonderfully innovative BBC programmes, which many of us take for granted, if producers are no longer prepared to take risks.”

BBC insiders fear a repeat of the process that occurred after the Hutton report, which identified serious failings in the corporation’s newsgathering. Those working in current affairs say investigations that might offend the Government are less likely to be pursued.

Dissenters inside the corporation include Rod McKenzie, the editor of Newsbeat, Radio 1’s news programme. Writing on the BBC Editor’s Blog, McKenzie said that anger over the calls was “synthetic” and that his audience, which is far younger than Radio 2’s, supported Ross and Brand by a margin of six to one.

The moves came after a day of meetings at the Westminster offices of the BBC Trust. Mr Thompson, Mark Byford, the deputy director-general and Mr Davie, went in front of a panel of five trustees and Sir Michael, where they were questioned for 3½ hours about how they failed to stop the calls being aired. All 12 trustees then had a conference call to discuss the first meeting, before recalling Mr Thompson and his colleagues to hammer out a final resolution.

It was reported that the discussions centred on why Nic Philps, the 25-year-old producer of the show, was not supervised by an older, more experienced, executive. The Director-General has been ordered to produce a final written report for the full meeting of the trust, on November 20.

Greg Dyke, the former BBC Director-General, criticised last night the regulating ability of the BBC Trust, which was set up by Tessa Jowell, the former Culture Secretary, as an alternative to an external regulator.

“Those of us who believed the existing governance system of the BBC was a fudge have been proved right,” Mr Dyke said. “It’s quite clear that the BBC needed a champion and that’s historically been the role of the chairman. Under the existing system that isn’t possible — the chairman is the regulator. We all told Jowell it wouldn’t work. Hopefully she’ll now admit we were right.”

In a letter to The Times yesterday , Lord Fowler, chairman of the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications, said that there was “confusion all round” because both Ofcom, the broadcasting watchdog, and the BBC Trust were investigating the row.

Party was fun while it lasted

Profile Lesley Douglas

She turned Radio 2 into a powerhouse, recruiting big names, overhauling the station’s music policy and winning awards and record audiences.

Lesley Douglas believed that Radio 2 could appeal to housewives in the morning through Terry Wogan and to their teenagers at night with Russell Brand. “You could probably show Radio 2 has become the perfect example of how age has become irrelevant,” she once said, noting how today’s rock bands sought to sound like their Sixties predecessors.

Douglas, 45, who was born in Sunderland, had been at Radio 2 for 15 years when she took over the top job in 2004 from Jim Moir, who had begun the strategy of snapping up familiar TV presenters as DJs.

Never one for BBC politicking, she preferred the company of the close-knit gathering of talent she assembled at Radio 2.

Some said that she indulged her stars and could be blind to their flaws. Letting Ross partner Brand produced an explosive combination. But last night Greg Dyke, a former Director-General, described her exit as a great shame. “She is a great lady, a really talented woman,” he said.

Guardians of the licence fee had been outraged when Douglas approved a £23,000 West End Christmas celebration for star DJs. The party is over.

Exchange of letters
Lesley Douglas to Mark Thompson

Dear Mark

The last week has been a painful one for the BBC and particularly for BBC Radio 2.

It is with enormous regret that I have decided to resign as Controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC 6 Music and of Popular Music. This is my decision alone.

Over the 23 years of my career at the BBC I have enjoyed a deep love and respect for both the audience and the BBC. The events of the last two weeks happened on my watch. I believe it is right that I take responsibility for what has happened.

It is a matter of the greatest possible sadness to me that a programme on my network has been the cause of such a controversy. I would like to take this opportunity to offer my personal apology to Andrew Sachs and his family and to the audience for what has happened.

It has been a huge privilege to have been entrusted with the leadership of the UK’s most popular radio station, which is so intensely loved by the audience. I have also had the tremendous pleasure of launching BBC 6 Music and more recently of leading popular music output across the BBC.

I know I leave BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music in the hands of a dedicated and passionate team of incredibly talented presenters and production staff. I am enormously proud of what we have achieved together.

Yours ever,

Lesley Douglas

Mark Thompson to Lesley Douglas

Dear Lesley

Thank you for your letter.

It is with real sadness that I accept your decision to resign. There is no doubt that my sadness today will be shared both across the BBC and the wider music industry.

You have been an outstanding Head of Programmes and then Controller of Radio 2 over the past eight years. You have presided over a creative transformation of the Network, and have rightly been recognised by the industry for your massive contribution to UK radio.

Your decision to take responsibility for what has happened is an illustration of the integrity and commitment which has characterised your leadership at BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music Over the past 23 years, you have been a devoted servant of the BBC, and your absence will be felt by your many colleagues and friends at the BBC. I am sure you will continue to make an outstanding contribution to radio and popular music in the UK.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Thompson

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