BBC defends Graham Norton

The BBC has defended Graham Norton after a report in The Daily Mail claims he made a joke about Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.

The Daily Mail is once again attacking the BBC over a joke by one of its presenters and this time its the turn of Graham Norton to be bashed by the middle-class paper.

The Daily Mail claims that Norton made a joke about the looks of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. The amusing comment by Norton was made during rehearsals for the Royal Variety Performance. It came following a routine by the Pussycat Dolls, when Norton remarked;

“And there you have the Pussycat Dolls singing to the Prince, ‘Don’tcha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?”

The remark was made in the presence of the Prince of Charles.

However, the BBC has come out and defended the joke saying it was merely “light banter” and wasn’t meant to cause offense and was included in the recording of the Royal Variety Performance. The Royal Variety Performance was held last night at the London Palladium and will be broadcast on BBC One on Wednesday.

The Daily Mail has been on something of a crusade against the BBC of late whipping up the media storm surrounding prank calls made to Andrew Sachs by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross.

Before The Sunday Mail reported on the prank calls only a handful of people had complained about their content but after The Daily Mail and its Sunday counterpart reported on them thousands of people complained despite not having heard the programme containing the calls.

A repeat of Mock the Week also caused outrage to the paper as it featured a joke about the Queen. The edition was 18 months old but the paper had seemingly missed its original broadcast. More recently the paper reported how Torchwood actor John Barrowman exposed himself on air, on BBC Radio 1 – where no one could see. Even though there was a webcam in the studio at the time the incident was not caught by the webcam and Barrowman and the presenters of the show immediately apologized.

“Let’s face it, Camilla isn’t the prettiest thing parading around Royal Ascot darlings, so you know a little ribbing Charlie can’t hurt, he obviously loves her for her personality and many other things, which proves that beauty can be inside not just physical. Well that’s what Denise Robertson says about humanity so it must be true.” – TV Critic Vivian Summers