THE JAM - CAROL THATCHER FACING BBC BAN AFTER 'GOLLIWOG' REMARK

CAROL THATCHER FACING BBC BAN AFTER 'GOLLIWOG' REMARK

Carol Thatcher, the daughter of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, may be banned from the BBC after referring to a tennis player as a "golliwog".

The corporation held emergency talks with the 55-year-old 'roving reporter' last night after she made the alleged comment in reference to a male competitor in the Australian Open.

Thatcher, a former winner of I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, had been speaking in the green room after Thursday night's broadcast of The One Show with presenter Adrian Chiles and other members of the production team.

The Times newspaper quotes a BBC source as saying Chiles was "very shocked" by Thatcher's remark while others in the room are said to have told her they considered the comment offensive.

A BBC spokesman told the paper: "The BBC considers any language of a racist nature wholly unacceptable.

"We have raised the issue with the individual concerned and are discussing it as a matter of urgency."

A spokesman for Thatcher said that the comment had been "an off-the-cuff remark made in jest'.

He told the newspaper: "Carol never intended any racist comment. She made a light aside about this tennis player and his similarity to the golliwog on the jam pot when she was growing up.

"There's no way, obviously, that she would condone any racist comment - we would refute that entirely. It would not be in her nature to do anything like that."

Neither the BBC nor representatives for Thatcher and Chiles were prepared to name the tennis player in discussion in the backstage conversation.