Russell Brand's BBC Prank Calls 'Toned Down' For Broadcast

Russell Brand has admitted that prank messages he and Jonathan Ross left on actor Andrew Sachs' answerphone were toned down before they were broadcast.

Brand told the Observer that “more personal stuff” had been omitted at the actor's request.

The obscene messages, which were broadcast during Brand's BBC Radio 2 show on October 18th, prompted the comedian to resign from the corporation.

"We were told that Andrew Sachs had okayed it," Brand said. "The grey area is that our brilliant young producer Nic Philps called Andrew Sachs afterwards and said: 'Is it OK, can we use it, do you mind?'

"And he said: 'Oh yeah, but can you tone it down a bit?' So we did. We took out the more personal stuff."

In the messages, Brand boasted that he had slept with Sachs’ granddaughter Georgina Baillie.

Ross, the BBC’s highest paid star, has been suspended without pay for three months - a penalty which will cost the TV personality almost £1.3million.

On Saturday the BBC aired two apologies at the beginning of Ross’s show on Saturday morning and later during Brand’s former slot.