Toughen BBC guidelines, says Sachs row report

A REPORT commissioned in the wake of the Andrew Sachs scandal has recommended new guidance to ensure that BBC programme makers understand that "malicious intrusion, intimidation and humiliation are unacceptable".

The BBC commissioned what it claimed was its most extensive piece of research yet into what its audiences think about the standards it achieves and what it aspires to do.

The BBC Trust, the corporation's governing body, will use public feedback, along with the research, for its full review of the BBC's editorial guidelines later in the year.

It is expected new editorial guidelines will be introduced in early summer next year.

Yesterday's report examined wider issues of taste and standards than the Sachs scandal, which has already been looked into by the trust. The report said the BBC has taken action to try to prevent anything similar to the "offensive" remarks left by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand on the answerphone of the Fawlty Towers and Coronation Street actor happening again.

The report recommended that the bar for the strongest language between 9pm and 10pm must remain "significantly higher" on BBC1 than on other BBC TV channels, because "it unites the generations".