More than five million viewers tuned in to watch Jonathan Ross's return to TV following his three-month suspension by the BBC, early figures show.

At its peak, 5.1m people saw the star interview Hollywood actor Tom Cruise on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.

Ross's last chat show in October before his suspension was watched by 3.74m.

Meanwhile, the star said it was "very nice to be back" as he returned to his Saturday morning Radio 2 show after the Andrew Sachs lewd phone call row.

Ross resumed hosting his BBC One chat show on Friday with the words: "So, where were we?" and apologised again for the incident.

He added: "Welcome to our millions of regular viewers and to our several thousand new viewers who I suspect may be watching for the very first time."

Speaking on his radio show about his TV return, Ross said: "It was nice to be able to go out at the beginning and say sorry to people because I said sorry beforehand, but that message didn't seem to have got out there.

"I got the feeling the newspapers hadn't actually heard it, even though some of them printed it, so it was nice to go out there and get the chance to get that off my chest," he added.

During the show, the star said it felt "peculiar" not working over Christmas and thanked the presenters who sat in for him while he was away.

Ross was joined in the studio by presenter Graham Norton, comedian Katy Brand and Mercury Music Prize winners, Elbow.

On his TV show, the presenter told the audience it was "a great privilege" to be "allowed this level of freedom to communicate", adding he would be "more aware of the responsibility" now.

"But, as the kids say, it was 'my bad' so I do apologise for any hurt or distress it’s caused," he said.

The BBC received 25 complaints on Friday from viewers unhappy at Ross's return to the BBC and three messages in support for the presenter.

In Brand's Radio 2 show in October, Ross and Brand left obscene messages on Sachs's answerphone claiming Brand had slept with the actor's granddaughter, Georgina Baillie.

After more than 42,000 people complained, BBC bosses carried out a review and suspended Ross without pay for three months.

Brand issued a public apology and resigned from his BBC show.

I fwink he`s a

And a pwick

Perthonaly I can not thtand the 2 of them.There again only the BBC will pay untalented comedians thuch ath thethe 2 idioths.

i think he is excellent funny guy :)my opinion.

Russell Brand is even better...my opinion

Nah mate,difference of opinion I think.

Jonathan Ross returns to Radio Two with sick jokes about sex with a pensioner


Jonathan Ross risked the wrath of BBC executives on his return to Radio 2 yesterday by making crude remarks about sleeping with an 80-year-old woman.

Ten minutes after the live show began, Ross and his co-presenter Andy Davies talked about how they had spent the past three months, when Ross was suspended from the BBC.

Davies said that he had been doing some DIY at his house in Spain, and referred to an ‘older woman’ who lives nearby who ‘keeps trying to kiss me...she must be about 80, I reckon’.

Ross replied: ‘Oh God. I think you should, just for charity. Give her one last night, will you? One last night before the grave. Would it kill you?’

It also became clear yesterday that in the 35 hours between Ross’s Friday-night BBC1 chat show being recorded and broadcast, executives carefully edited the content to ensure the controversial host put across an appropriate balance of contrition and wit.

Ross was suspended without his £6million-a-year salary after he and comedian Russell Brand left obscene messages on the answerphone of
78-year-old actor Andrew Sachs during Brand’s Radio 2 show in October.

Last night Conservative MP Philip Davies, who sits on the Commons Culture Select Committee, said of his remarks about the elderly woman: ‘Everyone knows what Jonathan Ross is like, particularly now.

'Certainly the BBC are well aware. If you employ Ross, this is what you can expect from him and this is what you’ll always get from him. My view is that he should have been sacked three months ago.’

John Beyer, director of pressure group Mediawatch UK, said: ‘It’s ultimately for BBC director-general Mark Thompson to say whether this sort of innuendo and suggestion is what he had in mind when he gave Jonathan Ross his last chance back in October. The BBC has to establish boundaries of acceptability.’

Ross arrived at the Radio 2 studios in Central London yesterday wearing sunglasses and a dark three-piece suit with brown leather cuffs. He carried a messenger bag by designer label Prada, costing about £210.

During his three-hour programme, he appeared to make light of the controversial subject of teenage girls – including his daughter – watching men kiss each other.

As he interviewed fellow BBC presenter Graham Norton, who is starring in a West End adaptation of gay comedy La Cage Aux Folles, Ross said that his daughter, who is 16, was ‘very much into gay culture generally’.

He added: ‘I think, like lots of young girls, she likes seeing boys kissing, for some reason. They love seeing boys kissing.’

Sounding surprised, Norton asked: ‘Really?’

Ross said: ‘Yeah. It’s the big thing, Graham.’

A BBC spokesman said it had received 18 complaints about the show. And a further 166 people have protested to the BBC about Ross being chosen to present the Bafta awards next month.

In a statement, the BBC said: ‘Some viewers are unhappy that Jonathan Ross will be presenting this year’s Baftas. This will be his third year presenting the awards, and the decision to use him as the host was taken long before his suspension.’

BBC1 executives cut several crude remarks from his Friday-night chat show before it was broadcast.

The studio audience heard Ross tell his guest Tom Cruise, in response to the actor’s admission of a hectic schedule: ‘You should get yourself suspended. Russell Brand is in town tonight. Let’s go out in town and get suspended.’

Ross made several other references to Brand during the recording, and images of Brand appeared on screens, but his name or face were not deemed fit to appear in the version that was broadcast.

One audience member said: ‘I was amazed when I walked into the studio to see a huge screen suspended above the stage showing Jonathan Ross interviewing Russell Brand.

THE MAIL

Noooo far from, hes a top KNOB