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Ant and Dec - not the peoples choice |
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Written by Telly Addict
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Friday, 09 May 2008 |
Ant and Dec are to return their People's Choice award from the British Comedy Awards after an ITV investigation found that the real winner was The Catherine Tate Show
An ITV investigation discovered that The Catherine Tate Show collected more votes for the People's Choice Award than Ant and Dec, an independent report on the affair says.
It is thought that presenter Robbie Williams had been given assurances that Ant and Dec were the winners.
The deception emerged as media watchdog Ofcom fined ITV £5.68m over its use of premium rate phone lines.
ITV gave details of the incident as part of a statement responding to the record fine. It said it had asked independent law firm Olswang to conduct an investigation into the award ceremony after allegations of irregularities.
The investigation discovered that Tate's show was the rightful winner of the People's Choice Award, but said there was "insufficient evidence" to explain why Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway had been given the prize.
The report added: "Robbie Williams was invited to present an award. It was understood that he would be happy [to do so] if the recipients were Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly. In order to ensure his attendance, this assurance was given."
The report pointed out that this guarantee was made after the main winners had been decided by a jury and "the only award still to be decided was the People's Choice award".
But it could not be definitively established that Williams involvement led to the wrong winner being announced.
The report did confirm that there is no suggestion that Robbie Williams, Anthony McPartlin or Declan Donnelly were aware of any of these issues.
Ant and Dec, who have won the People's Choice award on three other occasions, are said to be "absolutely appalled" by the error.
The investigation conducted by Olswang also found that viewers were further deceived because the final section of the 2005 ceremony was broadcast with a half-hour delay to fit around the main nightly news bulletin from 10.30 to 11pm.
This delayed segment, shown at 11pm, continued to ask the audience to vote for the People's Choice Award, despite the fact that votes had been counted and the trophy handed out. ITV has passed these findings to Ofcom, which is currently carrying out a separate investigation.
ITV will not be subject to sanctions over the incident, as Channel Television Limited was responsible for ensuring compliance with broadcasting regulations relating to the award show.
The 2007 British Comedy Awards were not shown on television while Olswang carried out its investigation.
It is understood that no decision on broadcasting the 2008 British Comedy Awards has yet been made.
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