Graduate in BBC row

A University of Sheffield graduate is at the centre of the furore surrounding lewd phone calls made to Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs.

Nic Philps, 25, was the producer of Russell Brand’s Saturday night BBC Radio 2 show in which the comedian and talk show host Jonathan Ross were scheduled to interview the actor.

When Sachs, 78, who played Manuel in the classic BBC comedy, failed to pick up his phone for a pre-recorded interview, the pair left answer phone messages claiming Brand had slept with his granddaughter and joked about him committing suicide.

Philps, a Psychology graduate who achieved a 2:1 degree, asked Sachs for permission to air the calls. Despite the actor’s refusal, the obscenities remained in the show on Saturday, October, 18.

Jake Yapp, who is currently contributing to the BBC 6 Music breakfast show and co-producing upcoming Five Live show The Big Ask, has previously worked alongside and under the editorial eye of Nic Philps.

He said: "Nic is genuinely one of the nicest people I have ever worked with and has always been, in my experience, incredibly conscientious and cautious.

"I don’t think youth is a factor here, and it will not have affected Nic’s ability to regulate. If anything I was wowed by Nic’s precociousness in a wholly positive way. He has a wise head on his shoulders."

Complaints to the BBC and regulator Ofcom have led to the resignation of both Russell Brand and BBC Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas, as well as the three month suspension of Jonathan Ross without pay, and the unspecified suspension of Philps.

Philps, who studied the ‘Current Debates in Broadcasting’ module in the Department of Journalism while at University, is employed by Russell Brand’s own independent production company Vanity Projects. This unique set-up meant Brand was essentially Philps’ boss.

Veteran DJ and BBC Radio 2 presenter Paul Gambaccini said: "Because he succeeded in becoming an independent production where everybody has become answerable only to himself, the chain of command had been reduced to two people – Russell and Lesley."

Jake Yapp refused to blame Philps for the furore. He said: "My understanding of it is that the broadcast material was cleared by someone higher up than Nic.

"The responsibility lies with the person whose mouth it came out of and the general feeling in the BBC is that Brand and Ross were a liability – an accident waiting to happen."

Martha Kelner