Who pulled the plug on Adele?

The host of the music awards told the Evening Standard he was "utterly mortified", and it was "awful" to force her off the stage to make way for Blur near the end of last night's proceedings.

The singer gave the middle finger after Corden interrupted midway through her acceptance speech for the night's final and most prestigious prize - best album, for 21. The show's organisers and ITV apologised to her after a backlash by viewers, but refused to name the producer who made the decision to cut the speech short.

The executive producer of the Brits was Suzi Aplin. A former girlfriend of Chris Evans, she was executive producer on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross before it was axed by the BBC, in the wake of Ross and Russell Brand's offensive remarks about Andrew Sachs. Corden said he did not want to interrupt but was ordered to.

Sources claimed up to three production staff were "screaming" in his earpiece to bring the show to an end so they could cut to adverts on time.

Corden said: "The evening had gone so well so it was such a shame. It was an awful thing to do, but I had a producer in my ear saying we were pushed for time. I felt utterly mortified afterwards. I have spoken to [Adele] to apologise.

"Blur get to play for 11 minutes and she gets to say thank you once." As she collected the best album prize - she also won best female act - Adele said: "Nothing makes me prouder than coming home with six Grammys, then coming to the Brits and winning album of the year. I am so, so proud to be British and to be flying the flag and to be in the same room as all of you."

She began to thank individuals before Corden stepped in, saying, "I'm so, so sorry..." before ushering her off stage to allow Blur, recipients of the lifetime achievement award, to play a five-song medley. Adele said her gesture was aimed at "the suits" not fans.

A Brits spokesman said Aplin oversaw the TV production side of the evening, but there was no evidence to suggest she was responsible for the decision. An investigation was under way to determine who was. The show's organisers said: "We regret this happened and we send our deepest apologies to Adele. We don't want this to undermine her incredible achievement."

An ITV spokesman said: "The Brits is a live event. Unfortunately the programme was overrunning. We would like to apologise to Adele." Ed Sheeran won best British breakthrough and best male. Coldplay won best British group, Bruno Mars best international male, and Rihanna best international female.