BBC chiefs must approve use of 'worst' swear words

The sign-off policy has come in as the corporation overhauls its compliance procedures in the wake of the Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand phone prank row last month.

The BBC's top brass have informed its senior managers that the broadcaster cannot afford to invite further criticism over swearing, after it emerged that nobody at Radio 2 had listened to the show which featured the obscene calls Ross and Brand made to actor Andrew Sachs.

A group headed by the BBC creative director Alan Yentob, director of archive content Roly Keating and the chief adviser for editorial policy Claire Powell is "examining where the appropriate boundaries of taste and generally accepted standards should lie across all BBC output", ahead of a report to come out in the spring.

But until formal changes are made to its procedures next year, controllers of all BBC stations and channels are personally vetting each use of the most offensive swear words to ensure it is "editorially justified".

One senior TV producer at the BBC said: "The three worst swear words are automatically going right up to the controller, and we have been told that if in doubt with anything else, check with the controller as they are ultimately responsible for what goes out."

On Monday the BBC's Leadership Group - made up of its 150 most senior managers - met and discussed the issue and were told that ensuring editorial standards were met was a "high priority" in the current climate. Last week's report by the BBC Trust found a complete failure of Radio 2's compliance procedures in the broadcast of the Russell Brand show.

Lesley Douglas, the former Radio 2 controller, approved the phone prank show - which received more than 40,000 complaints - with a one-word email sent from her BlackBerry to the station's head of compliance Dave Barber, who had not listened to the entire show.

Both individuals lost their jobs over the error, which triggered a public debate on taste and decency at the BBC.

A BBC source said: "It's a ludicrous situation, as controllers are not there to micro-manage every instance of swearing.

"But the situation over swearing is so sensitive right now that controllers are directly making sure that nothing slips through on their watch."

BBC controllers include BBC1 chief Jay Hunt, who will check that there is no gratuitous swearing on programmes such as Live at the Apollo - the stand-up comedy show which is replacing Friday Night with Jonathan Ross during the presenter's suspension.

Similarly, BBC2 controller Janice Hadlow and BBC3 controller Danny Cohen will also check the use of swear words.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "All BBC programmes have to meet the... BBC Editorial Guidelines and the expectations of their audiences."

The Standard revealed this week that Ross will be ordered to cut swearing and sexual innuendo from his chat show when it returns in the new year.