The Brand/Ross debacle has escalated out of all proportion.

Editorial Paul Williams

The over-reaction to the prank calls that Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross made to Manuel actor Andrew Sachs has been so farcical that it could have fallen from the pages of a Fawlty Towers script. However, the whole affair has had devastating consequences.

The resignation of Brand from Radio Two and the three-month suspension of Ross from the BBC is one thing, but the departure of Radio Two controller Lesley Douglas over what happened is an injustice too far and one that would have been unnecessary if this controversy had been swiftly dealt with by the Corporation.

By her resignation, radio has lost a first-rate station controller and the music industry a trusted ally and friend, one who, alongside her former boss Jim Moir, was the architect of turning the BBC network from a dying station that did not matter one iota to record labels into the UK's most-listened-to station. Her work with Moir put the station onto the map as far as the music business is concerned and the industry has enjoyed the benefits of that relationship ever since.

Now she has gone and the BBC must take its fair share of the blame in allowing events to unfold as they did, as this scandal built and built over the past week.

Let us be clear. Ross and Brand's behaviour on Brand's Saturday night Radio Two show was totally unacceptable, offensive and about three steps too far. The fact it was a pre-recorded programme being overseen by a producer that was allowed to go out unedited is unfathomable.

However, we need to put this into context. Nobody died and, apart from two people, nobody actually complained immediately after the show had gone out. It was only after stirrings by certain sections ...