Reference: 00787262

Emma Leech Information Rights Advisor information.requests@.org.uk

29 October 2019

Freedom of Information: Right to know request Thank you for your request for information in relation to /Andrew Sachs complaints.

We received this request on 20 October 2019 and have considered it under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”).

You asked:

I would like to request the following information regarding complaints made connected to the BBC Radio 2 broadcast of 'The Russell Brand Show' on 18th October 2008:

How many complaints were made about the show during or directly after the programme's transmission?

How many complaints were made after the Mail On Sunday's story from October 26th regarding the programme?

Where possible, can you break down the data into the number of complaints made on the day of broadcast specifically (Saturday 18th October 2008), and then the number of complaints made in the subsequent week before Sunday 26th October 2008.

Additionally can you provide the amount of complaints made from October 26th 2008 onwards.

We hold some information in relation to your request. However, the information I am able to give you on complaints in relation to this particular broadcast is limited as our complaints management system only captures individual complaints dating back to 2014.

Given the time elapsed, we no longer hold data to provide a specific chronology of when Ofcom received complaints in 2008. I can, however, provide you with some more general information about the case in question. We received 1,939 complaints about this programme and, as stated in our sanction finding, “the number of complaints rose significantly after extensive media reporting of the content”1. The full sanction finding can be found here.

1 Section 1.8 of findings by Ofcom Content Sanctions Committee

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I hope that the information I have been able to provide you is helpful. If you have any further queries, then please send them to [email protected] quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely,

Emma Leech

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Corporation Secretary Ofcom Riverside House 2a Southwark Bridge Road London SE1 9HA

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Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF

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