Chris Moyles hits out at 'boring' BBC following Sachsgate scandal

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Chris Moyles has hit out at BBC red tape and the lengths that the corporation goes to not to cause upset.

The loud-mouthed BBC Radio 1 breakfast DJ said that radio is "so dull, so boring and so formulaic" that anything different stands out and it is impossible to always keep everyone happy.

The BBC strengthened its compliance systems in the wake of the scandal sparked by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand making prank calls to Andrew Sachs, which were broadcast on Brand's BBC Radio 2 show.

Outspoken: Chris Moyles has criticised the timid BBC

Moyles, 35, was asked by the Radio Times if he saw his role as a "Lord of Misrule" and answered "I wish".

He told the magazine: "The BBC is in a very weird state where they just don't want to upset anybody.
"Everything now needs to be signed, sealed and approved 18 times.

"We're not trying to change the world, but because radio is so dull, so boring and so formulaic, and anyone different - me or Jonathan - stands out.

"So the BBC is throwing down rules and regulations on you and then the newspapers are saying certain things and you're just trying to juggle everything while keeping everyone happy at the same time.

"And the reality is that you can't keep everyone happy all the time."

Both Moyles and Ross have come under fire for comments they have made while presenting their BBC radio shows.

In January, Moyles shared his views on appearing on the family history show Who Do You Think You Are? with his listeners, saying he did not visit Auschwitz, though "pretty much everyone" goes there, whether they are Jewish or not.

His comments provoked anger and Moyles was reportedly reprimanded.

"I'm genuinely quite surprised at the reaction to it," Moyles told the magazine.

"I think what happened is that there are some people whose view is that you can't say that word (Auschwitz) in any other context than what a horrible thing happened there.

"And it wasn't about anything that had happened at Auschwitz at all.

"If everybody who had done Who Do You Think You Are? turned out to be related to royalty, I'd have said: 'Hey! It turns out I'm not related to royalty!'

"If in every show, in every series, they drove a blue car, it would have been about that..."

Moyles insisted that "most intelligent people" will have interpreted his comments correctly.

"A lot of it is people - the haters - using it as an attack on me. There are many perceptions of me, most of them false or exaggerated...

"At the end of the day, I'm a guy on the radio, trying to make people smile on their way to work, or college or whatever. And I think I do it very well."

During filming for Who Do You Think You Are? Moyles visited a field of unmarked Irish graves, the resting place of 10 of his great-grandmother's 14 siblings, who died in infancy.

Moyles said he did not think the BBC1 show would alter perceptions of him as "that horrible man from the radio...

"The only other thing I'd say," Moyles told the magazine, "is that I cry at the end. I am human."

A BBC spokesman said: "Chris is never backwards in coming forwards but, while he is entitled to his opinion, we think that lively, distinctive and risk-taking radio is alive and well at the BBC, whether it be Matt Lucas's new comedy on Radio 2, Scott Mills launching a musical on Radio 1, Danny Baker stoking debate on Radio 5 Live or the Now Show consistently pushing the boundaries on Radio 4.

"We have a duty to ensure all our programmes are editorially compliant, but that doesn't mean our producers and presenters can't take creative risks if it means better programmes for listeners."

 

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