JONATHAN ROSS and Russell Brand are to apologise personally to veteran actor Andrew Sachs over offensive calls they made to him during a radio show.
The pair left answerphone messages for the 78-year-old Fawlty Towersstar in which they told him Brand had slept with his granddaughter, 23-year-old Georgina Baillie, an aspiring model.
The presenters joked that the actor might kill himself as a result.
A source said Ross had already sent his apology and Brand was in the process of putting one together. The BBC apologised earlier yesterday and also sent a response personally to Sachs.
His agent, Meg Poole, confirmed she had received the apology and was forwarding it to him.
She said: "They did send a perfectly nice apology." Ms Poole had emailed and written to the BBC to formally complain about the calls.
"We have received a letter of a complaint from Mr Sachs's agent and would like to sincerely apologise to Mr Sachs for the offence caused," a BBC spokeswoman said.
"We recognise that some of the content broadcast was unacceptable and offensive.
"We are reviewing how this came about and are responding to Mr Sachs personally. We also apologise to listeners for any offence caused."
A BBC spokeswoman confirmed the corporation has received more than 1,300 complaints in total, including phone calls and emails.
The watchdog, Ofcom, said it had also received complaints. It will assess them against the Broadcasting Code, which sets out standards including fairness and privacy. It does this in order to determine whether it should investigate further.
The pre-recorded calls were aired on Brand's Radio 2 show.
The host and Ross, who presents a show on the same radio channel, began making calls after Sachs apparently did not answer his phone for a pre-arranged interview to promote a television show.
The pair made a string of calls and left a number of lewd messages.
- (PA)