Andrew Sachs ‘haunted’ by prank calls from Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand

Sachs compared Brand and Russell to “two teenagers on the rampage, laughing at their own jokes”
Offensive: Andrew Sachs was lest stressed by the prank call
Tim Ireland/PA
Emma Powell2 December 2016
The Weekender

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Andrew Sachs was “haunted” by the offensive prank calls he received from Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand.

Sachs – who died last week after a four year battle with dementia – previously described the incident as “painful” almost six years after it happened.

Brand and Russell left vulgar messages on Sachs' answerphone after he was unable to join them on BBC Radio for an interview in 2008.

In the messages the duo bragged that Russell had had sex with Sachs’ granddaughter Georgina Baillie.

'Painful': Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross on BBC Radio
BBC

Sachs' wife Melody described the prank as "horrific" and said she wanted to "punch" Ross.

"My one sadness is that I never got to punch Jonathan Ross," she told the Daily Mail. "I have had the most pathetic of letters from Russell Brand.

"One day I'll get my chance and I'll be able to hit Jonathan Ross. I just missed it one night. Those two, Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross, are absolutely awful."

Sachs addressed the prank in an essay for the Daily Mail in 2014 titled ‘Cruelty that will haunt me forever’, in which he said: “For all my family, the unpleasant incident that hit the headlines in October 2008 was hugely distressing.

“After it became obvious that I couldn’t be on the show, Brand decided to announce during the recording of it that he wanted to talk to me about my granddaughter, Georgina, whom he knew.

“She’d told him that her grandfather had been Manuel in Fawlty Towers, he added. After that, it just got worse. Much worse.”

Andrew Sachs - in pictures

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Sachs compared Brand and Russell to “two teenagers on the rampage, laughing at their own jokes” and said their “lewd banter was deeply hurtful” and caused “huge stress to the family”.

Sachs complained to the BBC and the Corporation was fined £150,000 by the regulator Ofcom.

Brand resigned and Ross was suspended without pay for 12 weeks.

The BBC said in a statement at the time: "We recognise that some of the content braodcast was unacceptable and offensice. We also apologise to viewers for any offence caused."

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