Russell Brand: So what was all the fuss about?

Millions of words have been written about it, hundreds of thousands of sentences have been uttered in anger on air about it, and hundreds of radio hours have been turned over to it.

Now it's even got a name. Depending on where you get your news, it is either Manuel-gate or Sachs-gate, if you're into your broadsheet.

But, nine days on from the Mail on Sunday's "revelations" about a radio show broadcast at least a week previously, here's a question for you: What was all the fuss about?

Yes, it was foolish of Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross to ring up Andrew Sachs and leave messages on his answerphone about Brand's sexual activities with Sachs's grand-daughter.

But, truly, honestly, does it really matter? We're talking here about two of the most outrageous broadcasters in the country, employed by the BBC to do what they do best - bring in an audience by being outrageous.

Then, when they apparently overstep the mark with a stunt which prompted two - yes, count them, two - complaints at time of broadcast, one is forced to walk away, the other suspended for three months.

Here's my thinking: It was aired by BBC Radio 2 - a station desperate to be cool while still catering for its core, middle-aged base during the day - late on a Saturday night. It triggered two complaints, which suggests, to me, that the stunt wasn't out of balance with what the audience expected.

The complaints began pouring in once it appeared on the front of the Mail on Sunday, and then the rest of the Press got involved. But these weren't complaints from listeners. At best, they were complaints from people who gone and pressed the listen again function on the BBC I Player. At worst, they were from people who complained a) because they like complaining or b) because they thought everyone else was.

And nowhere in the acres of coverage does there appear to be any suggestion that the victim of the prank, Andrew Sachs, was the instigator of the Mail on Sunday's article. He did indeed complain to the BBC. So, of the 30,000 who did, we now have three who really had a right to - the two who listened and the man whose answerphone took the brunt of the prank.

Nor has the issue of how Brand knew what her grand-dad did for living come up. Georgina - a shy, retiring burlesque dancer - admits sleeping with with Brand on the first date, and twice after that. When would anyone else mention what their grandpa did?

The moment Georgina appeared to be making personal gain out of the situation, the moment her credibility as victim was shattered by her own revelations, the BBC should have stopped saying sorry. By this point, Sachs himself had said he was happy with the apologies. End of story.

Yet it's not the end of the story. The BBC now has one of its best talents at home on unpaid suspension, while Brand will take his audience elsewhere. But the greatest damage to the BBC isn't from the actual broadcast, but from its inability to stop saying sorry, and its reluctance to tell people: "If you don't like it, don't listen." Hell, it's the reason why Terry Wogan is never on my radio.

Yet the BBC didn't see it that way, and pretty quickly it cranked its own news operation into action, insisting that it be among the sternest critics of one of its own. For three days in a row, the Five Live phone in was dominated by the saga. Strangely, the majority of callers who got on air complained it was all too much fuss - but when the BBC sees a bandwagon with its own name on it, commonsense isn't enough to stop it climbing on board.

In a week when thousands were being made homeless in Congo and the FTSE rose by one of its largest percentages ever, not to mention the small matter of a US election, the flagship news show on the BBC, the Ten O'Clock News, led with a row over a late-night radio broadcast which triggered jut two complaints at time of broadcast.

Of course, at this point, Sach's grand-daughter Georgina Baillie was busy playing the role of the hard-done to victim whose private life had been ruthlessly exposed on air. And, of course, the only way to react to such an invasion is to respond, on the front page of the Sun, denouncing Brand's performance in bed and revealing intimate secret yourself.

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