In a thoughtful attempt to show her staff she cared, TV mogul Amanda Ross decided she would pay for a cake and a card whenever one of them had a birthday.

The scheme proved hugely successful in boosting morale at the production company Cactus TV - until the day someone was given her card before the boss had signed it.

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Birthday bash: Amanda Ross, left, fired off this email after not being allowed to sign a colleague's card. Ross runs Cactus TV, which produces Richard and Judy, right

In response, a furious Mrs Ross fired off an e-mail to her underlings in which she threatened the ultimate sanction ... a ban on birthdays.

Mrs Ross, 44, produces Channel 4's Richard & Judy show with her 48-year-old husband Simon, older brother of Jonathan.

In the e-mail, she wrote: "I did not get to see or sign Maryam's card. Can I remind you that the Cactus Birthday tradition is mine, and I effectively pay for it, so if you can't make it happen that I get to sign the card, then I will stop it."

The 'Maryam' in question was a runner for Cactus who was upset at the fact that her bosses had not signed her card, and asked them why.

Staff at Cactus, which has around a dozen employees, should have known Mrs Ross is a woman not to be trifled with.

Since she came up with the idea of Richard & Judy's Book Club, which can turn unknown authors into best- sellers overnight, she has become known as the most powerful woman in publishing.

It is she who decides which books make it on to the show, meaning she can literally make or break an author's career.

Happily, despite Mrs Ross's fit of pique, which happened 18 months ago but has only now come to light, Cactus Birthdays continue at the company's studios in Kennington, South London.

A spokesman said: "The whole reason the e-mail was sent was that the member of staff whose birthday it was had been upset that her bosses hadn't had a chance to sign the card.

"She had gone to Amanda to ask why she and Simon hadn't signed it. Amanda was upset that her colleague was upset. That's all it was.

"Staff still get a cake and a card when it's their birthday and when they leave."

It is not the first time that Mrs Ross has been embarrassed by a leaked e-mail - last month it emerged that Cactus had been messaged about problems with Richard & Judy's You Say We Pay phonein quiz, but had allegedly ignored the warnings.

The e-mail warned that thousands of viewers who rang a premium rate line had no chance of success because the winners had already been chosen.