Saturday Kitchen Goes Live After Phone-In Mistake

All future episodes of the BBC cookery programme Saturday Kitchen will be broadcast live after the Corporation admitted that viewers were asked to phone in for a show they had no chance of appearing on.

Viewers were asked to call in for a chance to appear on the next week’s show. However, the show was being recorded the same day as the request for calls was made.

A BBC spokesman said that the incident was a simple mistake and that profits made from the phone calls went to charity.

The spokesman said: “The BBC has always made it clear to the makers of Saturday Kitchen that pre-recorded material should not be presented as live.

“It has come to our attention that the phrasing used when inviting viewers to contact the programme was ambiguous on the few occasions that the programme was pre-recorded.

“To avoid any future misunderstanding the BBC has decided that Saturday Kitchen will always be a live show from now on.”

Saturday Kitchen which is shown on BBC One, uses phoneline operator Eckoh and is made by Cactus, both of whom were involved in the Richard and Judy phone call controversy (see Richard & Judy Phone Quiz Controversy Takes New Twist).

Icstis, the regulator of premium phone lines, is investigating how the call-in mix-up occurred.

BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk