BBC and Channel Four chiefs ‘face grilling’ over how Russell Brand treated female staff

The BBC and Channel 4 are likely to face questions after turning a blind eye to Russell Brand’s behaviour while he worked for them.

Television insiders predict bosses from the broadcasters will be called before a Government select committee for a grilling.

Last night the BBC confirmed that it did not investigate complaints made about Brand between 2006 and 2008 when he hosted shows for Radio 2 and 6 Music.

During his time there it was claimed that the comedian would strip naked and make sexual remarks about newsreader Andrea Simmons, describing her on air as ‘erotic’ and a ‘sex bomb’, and told his listeners that he would like to ‘go under the desk’ while she was reading the news.

Several times after this it is implied that Brand was forced to apologise by production staff.

Two of the women in Channel 4’s Dispatches which aired on Saturday night said they felt production companies had ‘enabled’ Brand’s behaviour.

Production runner, Rachel, 24, worked alongside Brand on Big Brother’s EFourum, later Big Mouth. Weeks after she started the role, Brand is said to have focused his attention on her.

Rachel said: ‘It’s difficult to say when the line was crossed.’ She added that producers often asked her to deliver unfavorable news to Brand to ‘soften the blow’. 

She said the pair went on to have sex, which he told her was a breach of his contract.    

Rachel said: ‘He made clear to me I couldn’t tell anyone else on the crew because he had it written into his contract that he wasn’t allowed to have any sexual contact with anyone working on Big Brother.

‘It sounds slightly dramatic but with hindsight and now as an older woman I can say with clarity that, you know, I felt like I was groomed, for sex.

‘Production companies enabled him to exist in these environments where he was able to take advantage of who he was.’

Alice, who claims she was in an emotionally abusive and controlling relationship with Brand when she was just 16 and he 31 , said Channel 4 and the BBC ‘had a hand’ in enabling Brand. 

A BBC spokesman confirmed that several complaints were made to former Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas, but they were never investigated, adding that they ‘only went as far as that’ and ‘nothing was done’.

The BBC spokesman added that Ms Douglas resigned in 2008 after the Sachsgate scandal, when Brand and fellow presenter Jonathan Ross left obscene messages on the answerphone of actor Andrew Sachs. 

Sources said there were no plans to launch a fresh investigation into the allegations.

Meanwhile, Channel 4 confirmed last night that it had ordered a probe into claims that staff working with Brand on the reality TV spin-off Big Brother’s Big Mouth in 2005 were made to feel like ‘pimps’ when he told them to find female audience members for him to meet.

It was also alleged that Brand’s behaviour towards young women ‘raised questions’.

Last night the BBC confirmed that it did not investigate complaints made about Brand between 2006 and 2008 when he hosted shows for Radio 2 and 6 Music

Meanwhile, Channel 4 confirmed last night that it had ordered a probe into claims that staff working with Brand on the reality TV spin-off Big Brother’s Big Mouth in 2005 were made to feel like ‘pimps’

One worker revealed times when she had to collect Brand from his hotel room and he would appear in his underwear, suggesting they had a ‘quickie’ before filming. Another staff member said they were left ‘in tears’ by his behaviour.

A spokeswoman for the network said it had told Endemol, the company that made Big Brother’s Big Mouth, to investigate the claims fully and report back. 

She said: ‘We will be asking the production company who produced the programmes for Channel 4 to investigate these allegations and report their findings properly and satisfactorily to us.’

She added that the broadcaster was ‘determined to understand the full nature of what went on’ and had ‘carried out extensive document searches and found no evidence to suggest the alleged incidents were brought to the attention of Channel 4’.

However, staff at Channel 4 have accused their bosses of ‘passing the buck’ to Endemol, with one telling The Mail on Sunday: ‘They commission the production company and therefore they have a responsibility to make sure that their staff are treated properly and that complaints are dealt with properly and swiftly. It’s typical Channel 4.’