Sachs' granddaughter Georgina Baillie calls for Brand and Ross to be sacked

Georgina Baillie, the 23-year-old granddaughter of Andrews Sachs at the centre of the BBC prank calls row, has said she was "horrified and disgusted" by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand's behaviour and that the family is considering a formal complaint to police.

The burlesque performer told today's Sun that Ross and Brand should be fired, along with the BBC bosses that gave permission for the prerecorded session to be broadcast.

"My grandfather is really upset and says he wants the whole situation to end. It has been awful for him," Baillie said.

"I will be speaking to him to ask whether we should complain to police and we'll be making a decision as a family," she added.

"We're very close and I can't tell you how much it hurts to know they were so unkind to such a sweet person. They should at least pay for what they've done with their jobs."

Brand and Ross's lewd prank calls, made to Sachs' answerphone, were pre-recorded on Thursday October 16 and broadcast two days later, Saturday October 18, on the former's late-night Radio 2 show.

The BBC director of audio and music, Tim Davie, is conducting an urgent investigation of how the calls came to be broadcast and in particular who made the decision to go ahead with Brand and Ross's offensive messages.

Complaints to the BBC about the prank calls had topped 18,000 by around 9.30am today and they are being investigated by media regulator Ofcom.

Baillie, who has just returned from Vienna where she was performing with dance troupe the Satanic Sluts, said Brand and Ross were "beyond contempt" and that broadcasting the interview showed "an appalling lack of judgment".

"They must be the only people on earth sick enough to think that breaking into an old man's house and sexually abusing him might be funny," she said in the Sun interview.

"It was bad enough that they recorded these things on my grandfather's answer machine but astonishing the BBC saw fit to broadcast it when they could have stopped it."

Sachs, best know for his role as Manuel in the classic sitcom Fawlty Towers, has welcomed apologies from both Brand and Ross but said they should apologise to his granddaughter.

"She hasn't heard from either Ross or Brand and I do think they owe her an apology. I replied to Jonathan Ross and suggested that is where he should direct his attentions," he said.

Georgina's father Charles Baillie described Sachs as "a national treasure" and said Ross and Brand should have been more respectful to a 78-year-old.

"Ross and Brand seem to think it's clever to use that sort of humour but they are the only ones who find it funny," he told today's Daily Mirror.

"It's become extremely clear that very few people are laughing about it. To say 'I've f****d your granddaughter' and joke about Andrew killing himself is sick."

Via guardian.co.uk