Ross records chat show as ban ends

22 January 2009 06:59am

Jonathan Ross is set to return to work at the BBC after his three-month ban for making lewd comments on a radio show.

The chat show host is recording his Friday Night With Jonathan Ross show for BBC One at the corporation's studios in London.

Guests on the programme, to be broadcast a day later, include the actor Tom Cruise, Ross's fellow BBC presenter Stephen Fry and comedian Lee Evans.

Jonathan, who earns £6 million a year, was suspended for three months without pay for his part in the now infamous broadcast made with fellow Radio 2 DJ Russell Brand during the latter's radio show.

The pair left obscene messages on veteran actor Andrew Sachs' answerphone claiming that Brand had slept with the actor's granddaughter, Georgina Baillie.

The stunt had little immediate impact when first broadcast on October 18, but after being publicised in a national newspaper, set off a storm of protest that led to a major review of the corporation's editorial controls.

Jonathan was also suspended from his Radio 2 show, while Russell resigned from Radio 2.

Tom Cruise is due to publicise his latest move Valkyrie on the chat show. At the London premiere of the film, he told the BBC he had been briefed about the prank call affair.

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