RUSSELL BRAND - LIVE AT THE APOLLO TO REPLACE JONATHAN ROSS ON FRIDAY

LIVE AT THE APOLLO TO REPLACE JONATHAN ROSS ON FRIDAY

Stand-up comedy show Live at the Apollo is to replace Jonathan Ross' Friday night chat show during his three-month suspension.

The outspoken presenter was suspended from the BBC for 12 weeks without pay earlier this month over his involvement in the Radio 2 prank phone calls row.

And the first episode of the fourth series of Live at the Apollo will replace Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in the schedules during the host's hiatus, the BBC has confirmed.

Ross' suspension came as Russell Brand and two BBC executives resigned over lewd voicemails left by Ross and Brand for veteran actor Andrew Sachs.

The incident, broadcast on a pre-recorded edition of Brand's Radio 2 show, resulted in thousands of complaints and a media call for tighter editorial standards at the BBC.

The pair had left obscene messages on Sachs' voicemail about his 23-year-old granddaughter Georgina Baillie.

Radio 2 broadcast an apology on Saturday night, saying it was an "unacceptable intrusion" into the private lives of Sachs and his granddaughter and a "serious breach of editorial standards".

The first episode of Live at the Apollo will be recorded next week at London's Hammersmith Apollo and hosted by comedian Michael McIntyre.

However, its scheduling as a replacement for Friday Night with Jonathan Ross could lead to controversy in itself, as Scottish stand-up Frankie Boyle is one of the performers.

He was briefly dragged into the Brand/Ross row over a royal joke made on a 21-month old repeat of BBC2's Mock the Week.

When BBC director general Mark Thompson was asked about the appropriateness of Boyle's remark, he replied saying he would "only judge any remark on any programme by watching the programme".