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Jonathan Ross and BBC divorce: who left whom?
Ross’s love affair with BBC hits the rocks as Brand gets engaged to Katy Perry
Fifteen months after Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand found themselves in deep water over Manuelgate - when the two men left lewd phone messages on the voicemail of Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs and broadcast them on Brand's Radio 2 show - the fortunes of the two men could hardly be different.
This morning it was announced that Ross is to leave the BBC after 13 years during which he has made himself one of the Corporation's highest-paid stars. Forced to take a three-month leave of absence after the October 2008 phone call furore, he has been at the centre of controversy ever since over his £6m-a-year pay packet.
Before Christmas, The First Post reported that he had offered to take a 50 per cent pay cut, down to £3m a year. But it was clear that the BBC's Director-General Mark Thompson was yet to sign off on that fee and wanted to reduce it further, to £2m or less.
It remains unclear this morning who forced the split between Ross and the Beeb.
In a statement, Ross, who hits 50 later this year, claimed that there were "other considerations" than money behind his decision. He said: "Although I have had a wonderful time working for the BBC, and am very proud of the shows I have made while there, over the last two weeks I have decided not to re-negotiate when my current contract comes to an end."
But according to rumours circulating before today's news broke, many BBC executives were determined to solve the Ross pay problem once and for all.
The Daily Mail reported that Ross risked losing his BBC1 Friday night chat show to rival Graham Norton, and his movie review programme, Film 2010, to critic Mark Kermode.
This would have left him with only his Saturday morning radio show, and a much-reduced contract.
It is not clear yet what Ross plans to do next. But a senior TV entertainment producer told The First Post this morning: "Jonathan may have got greedy, and boasted about his earnings once too often. But don't let that overshadow his professionalism: he is really good at his job and will be in huge demand. Given the state of the industry, however, he may have to face a pay cut wherever he goes."
As for the rise and rise of Ross's friend Russell Brand, the 34-year-old is definitely engaged to be married, and has told his best man to get the speech ready for a wedding within months. He and Perry, 25, had their relationship blessed by a "love guru" in India on New Year's Eve and have since moved on to Thailand to celebrate the engagement.
But with an increasingly busy film schedule, he'll need to come home one of these days. Having made his Hollywood breakthrough in the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, for which he received rave reviews, he is playing the same character again in Get Him to the Greek. Among other projects are a new Adam Sandler film and a remake of Arthur, in which he will take the role first performed by Dudley Moore. ·
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Glad to see nobody bashing him for the film programme.
I can accept that people may well disagree on JR's particular brand of entertainment when it comes to his Friday night show, but his work on the Film show has always been good. Likewise I agree with michael - ross does come over much better on radio, and it's that perhaps that i will miss more than the TV show.
I just hope they pick someone or something entertaining and challenging, and not something tame and limp just to please the vocal minority, that would be a real shame.
Ah Peter! At last there is a single solitary subject under the sun upon which we agree. I am glad to say that I found the over-paid and over-rated Woss to be a form of aversion therapy. (But to fair, I think he comes over better on the radio than on the box. He just got over-exposed and over-promoted.) But then, to be fair, I don't watch the television anyway, so I can't blame him for impacting my quality of life except when he bags headline space more sensibly spent on real issues.
Good riddance. Perhaps the BBC can now employ someone who doesn't depend on juvenile toilet humour and asking 'celebrities' personal questions to embarrass them. This non-talent was never worth the obscene money he was paid. I've heard more talented repartee in street markets. What depths have we come to when someone like Woss is described as talented? The equally talentless Yentob who thinks the sun shines from Woss's orifices should go also.
Who cares who left who? Frankly his departure is well overdue!
The 6m a year was good value. It is constantly represented as the amount Ross himself earns, but it was his production company charged the BBC for the 3 weekly shows he did. This money pays all the staff on his shows and all other production costs. I've always thought it was excellent value for the licence payer and the BBC will be the worse for losing him. A real shame to lose 3 excellent shows.
GOOD!