We failed viewers over TV phone-in blunders, says BBC

The investigation found the long-running children's series guilty of "failures of editorial oversight" and breaches of guidelines.

It was launched after a Blue Peter show last year misled children into taking part in a competition they had no chance of winning.

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A child visiting the studio posed as a competitor in a phone-in competition after a technical problem meant outside callers could not get through.

At a production meeting three days later the researcher responsible for bringing in the child was congratulated for "quick thinking" in keeping the show on the road, the report says.

But the BBC has now admitted in the report that it has "fallen seriously short of what the public should rightly expect from it."

It also found that the cookery programme Saturday Kitchen misled its viewers with ambiguous scripting about the status of the show, which was pre-recorded rather than live.

However, BBC director-general Mark Thompson's report discoveredno evidence of systemic abuse of the use of premium-rate phone lines, nor of the BBC profiting from any of the shows involved.

It was published just days after a Blue Peter executive stepped down.

The BBC said Blue Peter editor Richard Marson was taking a role as an executive producer within the BBC's children's department working on independent projects.

According to the corporation, the timing of the job change was "not entirely coincidental".

In March, presenter Konnie Huq told viewers: "We'd like to say sorry to you because when this mistake happened, we let you down."

The incident was one of the most serious of a series of allegations involving television premium-rate telephone competitions.

Other high-profile shows hit by complaints over their phone- ins included Channel 4's Richard and Judy and ITV's The X Factor.

Mr Thompson's report sets out a series of measures to tighten up the use of premium-rate phone lines across the BBC.

All "live" telephone competitions where a winner is selected within a half- hour show have been suspended.

Senior editorial staff on all shows using premium-rate services will be responsible for ensuring guidelines are met, and further guidance and training will be provided across the BBC.

Now BBC One controller Peter Fincham will lead a working party review of the BBC's use of telephony and implement any necessary changes.

The BBC Trust - the corporation's independent governing body - is to carry out a longer-term policy review of how and when the BBC uses premium-rate phone lines.

BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons said the Blue Peter errors were particularly serious.

"These grave mistakes were compounded by serious errors of judgment in not referring the matter to senior management," he said.

The report cleared the children's show Smile of any problems with phone-ins.