17-11-2008, 11:15 PM
David - I don't think it was a set-up.
As you know, I spent more than a decade working for the BBC. I know people in the telly industry, and I know people who work with Ross & Brand.
The reason a lot of their shows are pre-recorded is because they're pretty much out of control. The fundamental job of their producer is to edit out the truly offensive stuff, and sharpen up the material (thru nipping & ticking in the edit suite).
In this case, the producer apparently cut out some really grotesque material but thought it was OK (yah) to include Brand's claim that he had "fucked" Andrew Sachs' grand-daughter. This was passed up the BBC editorial referral system prior to transmission and, shamefully, (but not surprizingly to a Beeb veteran like me), management were either asleep or genuinely thought this puerile tosh was: a) funny; b) transmittable.
The Daily Mail then got all outraged. Brand resigned. Ross has been suspended for 12 weeks without pay (a couple of million quid in lost earnings).
My reading of the situation is that Andrew Sachs - still most famous for his role as Spanish waiter Manuel in Fawlty Towers - and his agent have decided to cash in on his name being in the press, and get him some lucrative work on Coronation Street.
So, whilst I may be wrong, my reading is that this is simple opportunism from Sachs' agent. In fact, if the agent couldn't get work for his client whilst he's basking in the sympathy of the British public, he'd be rubbish at his job.
As you know, I spent more than a decade working for the BBC. I know people in the telly industry, and I know people who work with Ross & Brand.
The reason a lot of their shows are pre-recorded is because they're pretty much out of control. The fundamental job of their producer is to edit out the truly offensive stuff, and sharpen up the material (thru nipping & ticking in the edit suite).
In this case, the producer apparently cut out some really grotesque material but thought it was OK (yah) to include Brand's claim that he had "fucked" Andrew Sachs' grand-daughter. This was passed up the BBC editorial referral system prior to transmission and, shamefully, (but not surprizingly to a Beeb veteran like me), management were either asleep or genuinely thought this puerile tosh was: a) funny; b) transmittable.
The Daily Mail then got all outraged. Brand resigned. Ross has been suspended for 12 weeks without pay (a couple of million quid in lost earnings).
My reading of the situation is that Andrew Sachs - still most famous for his role as Spanish waiter Manuel in Fawlty Towers - and his agent have decided to cash in on his name being in the press, and get him some lucrative work on Coronation Street.
So, whilst I may be wrong, my reading is that this is simple opportunism from Sachs' agent. In fact, if the agent couldn't get work for his client whilst he's basking in the sympathy of the British public, he'd be rubbish at his job.
"It means this War was never political at all, the politics was all theatre, all just to keep the people distracted...."
"Proverbs for Paranoids 4: You hide, They seek."
"They are in Love. Fuck the War."
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta."
The last words of the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, led to the gallows by men of god & dogs of war
"Proverbs for Paranoids 4: You hide, They seek."
"They are in Love. Fuck the War."
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta."
The last words of the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, led to the gallows by men of god & dogs of war