TV's annus horribilis

ITV

Takeover threat, November 2006

ITV's independence under threat after Rupert Murdoch buys an 18% stake.

'I'm a Celebrity' bungle, March 2007

Reality show I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! is accused of losing 30,000 phone votes for David Gest in November 2006; Dancing on Ice also missed 11,500 phone votes. ITV suspends all its phone-in polls and competitions and launches an independent audit of premium rate phone-ins.

ITV Play axed, March 2007

ITV Play, a channel built around phone-in competitions, is axed. It still exists as an overnight show but its future is uncertain.

GMTV scandal, April 2007

A huge phone-in scandal erupts at GMTV. BBC1's Panorama alleges the programme cheated viewers out of £40m over a four-year period: Opera Interactive Technology, who ran GMTV's phone quizzes, was choosing winners before closing the premium-rate lines. GMTV's managing director, Paul Corley, terminates the contract with the quiz supplier and resigns in July.

'X-Factor' fiasco, April 2007

1.3 million X-Factor viewers are found to have been overcharged by £200,000.

Ant & Dec exposed, July 2007

After an internal inquiry, it emerges Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway won a TV award after a phone-in mix-up.

Death film fury, July 2007

The press screening of Malcolm & Barbara: Love's Farewell suggests viewers would witness the death of an Alzheimer's sufferer, Malcolm Pointon; in fact, Mr Pointon is shown slipping into a coma, not actually dying.

BBC

Grade leaves, November 2006

Chairman Michael Grade is lured to ITV with the promise of a huge pay packet and the challenge of turning the beleaguered broadcaster's fortunes around.

'Blue Peter' shock, March 2007

It is revealed that a phone-in competition to raise money for Unicef was rigged by Blue Peter. The BBC is fined £50,000 for the mistake in July.

'Newsnight' double apology, June 2007

The BBC2 programme is forced to apologise to the SNP leader Alex Salmond over a Kirsty Wark interview that cut him off in mid-sentence. In July, the programme apologises to the Treasury after suggesting that a press officer was obstructing access to Gordon Brown.

Crowngate, July 2007

The RDF documentary A Year with the Queen causes a scandal. RDF creative director Stephen Lambert misrepresents the Queen, showing her storming out of an Annie Leibowitz photo shoot when asked to remove her crown to look "less dressy". BBC1 controller Peter Fincham, whose future at the BBC is called into question, had introduced the clip as "Annie Leibovitz gets it slightly wrong and the Queen walks out in a huff". An independent enquiry, led by BBC veteran Will Wyatt, is being conducted; the findings will be announced next month.

Phone-in scandal, July 2007

The BBC admits to six phone-in riggings involving four television shows – Comic Relief, Children In Need, TMi and Sport Relief. Director-general Mark Thompson suspends all phone-in and interactive competitions.

Channel 4

Celebrity Big Brother Race row, January 2007

House members Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara bully Indian contestant Shilpa Shetty. Chief executive Andy Duncan defends the show. Endemol chairman Peter Bazalgette says there have been "no mistakes in the running of this programme". It continues to air and ratings soar. After receiving 44,500 complaints, three times the number ever received, Ofcom rules in May that Channel 4 breached the broadcasting code and made "serious editorial misjudgements". In June housemate Emily Parr is evicted from the summer series after calling a contestant a "nigger".

Double 'Dispatches' investigation, January 2006

The Undercover Mosque programme is accused of inciting racial hatred with its portrayal of two radical Islamic clerics. Dispatches editor Kevin Sutcliffe accuses the CPS of unjustly embroiling the show in the "TV fakery" row. Tomorrow, the Dispatches team go to court over this month's Britain Under Attack broadcast to contest the Metropolitan Police's demand to view all unaired footage.

'Richard & Judy' deception, February 2007

Richard & Judy's You Say, We Pay competition has cheated callers out of £1m by encouraging viewers to phone in when they couldn't win. The fiasco cost the company £150,000.

Diana death pictures aired, June 2007

Channel 4 broadcasts a controversial documentary about the last moments of Princess Diana's life, despite a personal plea from the princes asking for shocking images of the Paris crash scene to be removed.

Deal or No Deal dupes viewers, August 2007

The phone operator behind Noel Edmonds' Deal or No Deal, iTouch, is fined £30,000 by premium-rate watchdog ICSTIS. Callers phoned in live to win a prize though the organisers had already selected the winner.

Phone-ins called off, August 2007

Channel 4 axes all premium-rate profit-making phone-in competitions.

Five

Chambers forced out, October 2006

Five chief executive Jane Lighting lures her old associate Lisa Opie away from Flextech. Director of programmes Dan Chambers walks when Opie is parachuted in over his head as managing director of content.

Digital disaster, October 2006

Five launches two new digital channels, Five Life and Five US. Five Life barely registers in terms of audience share, winning 0.2 per cent on its launch compared to almost 4 per cent for other digital launches from rival terrestrial broadcasters.

Ratings slump, December 2006

Five's ratings slump by a whopping 11 per cent year-on-year.

Brainteaser scam, March 2007

Five suspends phone-in shows after Endemol's quiz show Brainteaser is found to have misled callers. When no callers answered the quiz correctly, false names or members of the production team were announced as the winners. In June, Five is fined £300,000.

Young deserts Five, May 2007

Kirsty Young, Five News's star presenter leaves the show to present BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.