Squalid non-news but is it a symptom?

There can be few people in Britain who are not now aware of the row which has developed over two of the nation's best known presenters and 'funny men' (ironic quotes), Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross, making prank phone calls to the answering machine of Andrew Sachs, another former funny man who was 'Manuel' in 'Fawlty Towers'.



For anyone, especially overseas readers, who haven't read the furore, Brand and Ross phoned Sachs, who is now 78 and long retired, on a late night show, found him to be out and left obscene messages on his answering machine, one particularly being a boast by Brand to Sachs that he had 'f***ed your granddaughter'



Sachs was so disgusted when he got the messages that he immediately complained to the BBC and, once the incident received nation-wide press coverage, there have been clamours for the presenters heads to roll and for a full enquiry to be launched. The granddaughter, Georgina Baillie, is not exactly a wilting violet, and has a life as 'Voluptua' in a erotic burlesque group called 'The Satanic Sluts'.



Because the girl was no saint, this presumably was the 'permission-giver' for the two entertainers to do what they did...and amazingly the show content had been approved by BBC light entertainment bosses.

While it seems pretty clear to most people that what happened was way in excess of acceptable banter, I am equally sure that Brand and Ross, on an adult late night show, were sure that their obscene repartee was nothing out of the ordinary for a 'sophisticated' late-night audience.

And that's the point of this little article really. They were probably right in their judgment of their audience..and that's a worry to me. Our society, and its humour, has become much more cruel and indifferent to personal hurt. There are BBC shows like 'Little Britain' which exhibit this trait and they have a fond following. Now they and stunts like that of Brand and Ross may well be aping the times, but I do feel that the TV companies have a responsibility to start looking seriously at the messages they are sending out not just rolling with the flow. I'm not a prude - far from it - but some of the stuff that passes for entertainment is beyond the pale and the company to which we pay our licence fee has a duty to do something about redressing that situation.

I know the BBC is not the guardian of our morality, nor would I wish it to be. Indeed I have been one of the supporters of more freedom in subject matter, particularly when dealing with sex and adult themes. But what's happening now is not a growing maturity, it's quite the reverse. It's a case of overgrown schoolboys indulging in locker-room humour in the full glare of a mass audience, indifferent to what hurt they cause...and it's a trend which responsible broadcasters need to get a grip on.