Call crimewatch! BBC hit by £350,000 thefts... and some of its staff are suspected

But the BBC seems unlikely to unleash the crime-busting programme, not least because some of the thieves may be rather too close to home.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that the corporation is suffering its own crimewave with everything from hub caps to computers disappearing.

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A log of stolen property reveals that 39 phones worth £7,800 and 73 computers - 71 of them laptops - worth £110,000, were taken.

About 25 items of camera equipment worth more than £100,000 also went missing, while three projectors worth £1,500 were stolen.

On various occasions thieves stole £20 from an unlocked Children In Need office, a bubble gum machine was ransacked, Famous Five cassettes were pinched and a ladder from the Holby City prop store vanished.

On top of that there were repeated thefts of champagne, as well as other wines and spirits, and several raids on coffee supplies.

Another incident saw the theft of a good luck card while four Secret Santa presents were pilfered from staff pigeon holes.

The corporation's headquarters at White City in West London also came under attack from a gang of six youths who tried to snatch a reel of cabling.

While some of the thefts were carried out by outsiders, the nature of many of the crimes suggest BBC staff were involved.

A BBC spokesman denied that there was a crimewave, claiming the figures had to be taken in the context of the size of the corporation.

He said just 39 phones being stolen was a small figure given how many staff were employed.

The spokesman added: "The BBC takes security very seriously. However, as a large organisation working across UK premises as well as on location thefts unfortunately do sometimes happen."

The corporation is spending about £550,000 on a "rebrand" of its news coverage.

From next week, the opening titles on bulletins on the main channels will feature Saturn-style spheres which will be coloured differently for shows in England, Scotland and Wales.

BBC chiefs decided to spend thousands of licence fee cash on another image makeover despite being criticised recently for spending £400,000 on an overhaul for its little-watched BBC3.

That rebrand worked out at a cost of more than £1 for every viewer.