Jonathan Ross is one of the UK’s most popular showbiz stars – but he once found himself involved in a scandal that almost ended his career.
The presenter shot to fame in the late 1980s and, as well as having his own chat show, Jonathan has gone on to appear in several other programmes over the years. These include Celebrity Traitors and The Masked Singer – which returns today (January 3).
However, almost 20 years ago, Jonathan made the headlines for all the wrong reasons following his disgraceful behaviour on a radio show. The incident even led to him leaving the BBC.
Jonathan Ross’ BBC scandal explained
In 2008, Jonathan and Russell Brand found themselves in hot water after they prank-called Fawlty Towers legend Andrew Sachs.
The presenter was on Russell’s BBC Radio 2 radio show when they left a series of vulgar voicemails about Andrew’s granddaughter, Georgina, on the actor’s phone. Russell had been in a relationship with Georgina Baillie when he was 30 and she was 20.
On the radio show, they had attempted to call Andrew Sachs for an interview. But when he didn’t answer, they went on to leave four messages on his answerphone.
What did they say?
The first message saw Russell joke about Fawlty Towers and how both he and Andrew had appeared in The Bill. But Jonathan interrupted in the background to shout out that Russell had “[bleeped] your granddaughter”.
The next messages saw the men try to apologise for what Jonathan had said. But they were not taking it very seriously, as the messages continued to be rude and vulgar.
As the radio show was pre-recorded, questions were asked as to why the messages had been broadcast. Andrew Sachs later confirmed he had not given permission for the offending material to air.
Jonathan Ross offered a ‘full apology’
The incident came to be know as Sachsgate and received more than 18,000 complaints. What’s more, the then-prime Minister Gordon Brown even called the incident “unacceptable”. Both Jonathan and Russell were suspended on October 29, 2008, as an investigation was conducted.
At the time, BBC director general Mark Thompson issued a statement and apologised for the incident. He said: “I would like to add my own personal and unreserved apology to Andrew Sachs, his family and to licence fee payers for the completely unacceptable broadcast on BBC Radio 2.”
Jonathan also said it was “a stupid error of judgement on my part” and offered a “full apology”. He was suspended without pay for 12 weeks from all BBC shows. At the time, he had been hosting his chat show Friday Night With Jonathan Ross. He also had his own BBC Radio 2 show for a number of years.
Meanwhile, Russell Brand issued an apology for making the calls and resigned from Radio 2. The BBC received a £150,000 fine from Ofcom after it aired their comments.
Jonathan Ross quit the BBC after scandal
However, two years later, Jonathan announced his exit from BBC. He said in a statement: “Over the last two weeks I have decided not to renegotiate when my current contract comes to an end. I would like to make it perfectly clear that no negotiations ever took place and that my decision is not financially motivated.
“I signed my current contract with the BBC having turned down more lucrative offers from other channels because it was where I wanted to be and – as I have said before – would happily have stayed there for any fee they cared to offer, but there were other considerations.”
In June 2010, Jonathan revealed he would be moving over to rival channel ITV to host a new Saturday night chat show, The Jonathan Ross Show. It has been on air ever since.
After that, Jonathan didn’t have a regular gig on the BBC for the best part of 15 years following the scandal. Until a lifeline in the form of Celebrity Traitors came along…
Jonathan’s BBC return
Fast forward to 2025, and Jonathan made his return to the BBC when he appeared on the first series of Celebrity Traitors.
A self-confessed fan of the civilian version of the show, Jonathan was joined on the programme by the likes of Alan Carr, Cat Burns, Kate Garraway and Clare Balding. However, he was voted off quite early when his co-stars managed to work out he was a Traitor.
But despite his pretty brief appearance on the show, it did mark the end of a remarkable 15-year absence from the BBC following Sachsgate. And, while he still doesn’t have a permanent hosting role on the Beeb, it appears that he is now back in the corporation’s good books (even if Claudia did make him a Traitor).
Here’s hoping that lessons have been learnt, and Jonathan will continue to enjoy the fruits of the lifeline BBC execs have now thrown his way. As for his partner in the Sachsgate crime, Russell Brand, the less said about him, the better.
Watch Jonathan Ross on The Masked Singer on Saturday (January 3) at 6.30pm on ITV1.
Read more: Jonathan Ross’ heartbreak following death ‘on train’: ‘Completely devastated’
What do you think of this story? You can leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know
