Ofcom chief and ex-BBC chairman Lord Grade's TV firm wooed Russell Brand despite warning from a female comic about his behaviour

A TV production company chaired by Lord Grade – who also held top positions at the BBC and Ofcom – tried to woo Russell Brand despite a warning from a female comic about his behaviour, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Comedian-turned-screenwriter Katy Brand alerted a producer at StoryFirst to ‘problematic rumours and allegations’ about Russell Brand in November 2021, after Lord Grade’s firm had launched an attempt to persuade him to star in a comedy she was writing, she claimed.

But despite her warning, StoryFirst ‘wanted Russell very badly’ and continued to pursue him, promising her agent in January 2022 they would ‘handle it carefully’ if he accepted the role.

‘I am sharing this … because I want to show how hard it was to make any headway with complaints in the past,’ Ms Brand said in an extraordinary online post last week.

Ms Brand made her comments as top TV executives, including bosses at the BBC and Channel 4, which helped catapult Russell Brand to fame, face mounting questions over what they knew about his appalling behaviour towards women.

The former presenter and actor was this month convicted of rape and sexual assault and jailed for ten years and six months. He is now being investigated by police after at least eight other women have accused him of sexual abuse and predatory behaviour.

Ms Brand, who is no relation, was commissioned in 2021 by StoryFirst, of which Lord Grade was a director and the non-executive chairman, to adapt a book into a TV comedy about a group of pensioners called ‘The Grey Team’. 

Emails released by Lord Grade last night after questions by the MoS revealed that the show’s producers wanted to hand Brand a role in the show as ‘a bit of disruptive casting’.

A TV production company chaired by Lord Grade – who also held top positions at the BBC and Ofcom – tried to woo Russell Brand despite a warning from a female comic about his behaviour

Comedian-turned-screenwriter Katy Brand alerted a producer at StoryFirst to ‘problematic rumours and allegations’ about Russell Brand in November 2021

Indeed, Lord Grade, who chaired the BBC board of governors between 2004 and 2006, was a key part of what one producer described as a ‘charm offensive’ to woo him.

On October 27, 2021, Lord Grade emailed Angharad Wood, Brand’s agent, saying the proposed show ‘might well appeal to his acting ambitions’. The pair had lunch 12 days later.

In an email to a colleague before their meeting, Lord Grade wrote: ‘She is taking me to lunch today… will push hard!’

Later that month Ms Brand is said to have raised her concerns about hiring Brand during a phone call with a StoryFirst producer.

In a now-deleted Instagram post, she wrote: ‘One of the characters – Dr M – was a role they had in mind for Russell Brand. I had called the producer on the phone to raise concerns about this.

‘I told him there were lots of problematic rumours and allegations and they should be very careful. I said I didn’t want him cast.’

Despite this red flag, she said the producer, who the MoS is not naming, made it clear ‘they wanted Russell very badly’.

In an email to Ms Brand, an excerpt of which she posted online, the producer wrote: ‘MG is taking the charm offensive on Russell pretty seriously … I think there’s every possibility he’ll [Russell Brand] want to read the new draft, so giving him something fun to play with may be helpful.’

Continuing her Instagram post, Ms Brand wrote: ‘...the “MG” mentioned here… in 2021 is Lord Michael Grade. The year after this, he became chairman of Ofcom. I hope Lord Grade has since changed his mind about Russell Brand.’

Lord Grade’s office last night said the ‘recollection’ of the producer who Ms Brand spoke to is that her concerns were ‘general’ and ‘that Brand was “a bit of a nightmare”.’ 

There is no suggestion Lord Grade was told about Ms Brand’s warning, or knew of any allegations against Brand. 

Lord Grade said: ‘I would take these things seriously. If anybody had raised that question with me about his bad behaviour I would have blanched, I think, quite seriously.’

Brand was sentenced to ten-and-a-half years in prison for rape and three counts of sexual assault on Monday 

On January 22, 2022, Ms Brand’s agent wrote to the same StoryFirst producer to deliver a second warning. 

‘I know that Katy has some doubts about Russell Brand which I think she has already mentioned but if not please note that there are concerns,’ she said.

‘I am assuming you will be doing due diligence checks about past behaviour on set and also might you have a quick chat with the agent of the actor who is mooted to play opposite him to check that the chemistry will work.’

The producer replied: ‘Yes, spoken to Katy about her concerns re his past behaviour. If he expresses some interest we’ll make sure we handle it carefully.’

Ultimately, Brand did not commit to the project, having twice cancelled a drink with Lord Grade. The show was never made after being rejected by a string of broadcasters and networks.

A spokeswoman for the Tory peer yesterday added: ‘For the avoidance of any doubt, Lord Grade has never spoken to, nor met, Russell Brand.’

His office also highlighted an email on November 19, 2021, in which Ms Brand appeared to describe the proposed casting of Brand as a ‘great idea’ and that her ‘only reservation’ was that the show would become a ‘star vehicle’ for him. Katy Brand declined to comment.

The discussions over Brand’s involvement in The Grey Team came at a time when his predatory behaviour is widely understood to have been an open secret in Britain’s entertainment industry.

It was four years after comedian Katherine Ryan confronted Brand about his behaviour during the filming of Roast Battle on Comedy Central. Ms Ryan’s comments about the possibility of Brand being exposed by his ‘victims’ were not broadcast but he rarely appeared on UK television screens after the exchange.

It was also 13 years after Brand quit in disgrace from his BBC Radio 2 show after calling Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs to boast about having slept with his granddaughter, Georgina Baillie.

The same month The Grey Team proposal was abandoned, Lord Grade started his four-year term as chairman of Ofcom, the UK’s broadcast media regulator.

Once known for his red braces and fat cigars, Tory peer Lord Grade of Yarmouth, 83, was one of Britain’s most influential media figures. A former controller of BBC1, he became chairman of its board of governors after the dramatic resignations of BBC Chairman Gavyn Davies and Director-General Greg Dyke following the 2004 Hutton Report.

He was chief executive of Channel Four between 1988 and 1997, where he was nicknamed ‘the pornographer in chief’ after he sanctioned controversial late-night programmes such as The Word, Eurotrash and Mr Dyke TV.

In 2006 he was lured to ITV, where he built shows such as Britain’s Got Talent and The X-Factor.

He was a director of StoryFirst for almost four years alongside his business partner Ivan Dunleavy, the former boss of Pinewood Studios. The company entered liquidation earlier this month.

Pressure is also mounting on ITV boss Kevin Lygo to explain his part in Russell Brand’s rise during his reign as a senior executive at Channel 4.

Brand presented Big Brother’s spin-off show between 2004 and 2007, and The Russell Brand Show for one series in 2006.

• READ MORE: Russell Brand is jailed for ten-and-a-half years after he is found guilty of raping one of his fans and sexually assaulting three women
• READ MORE: The depraved act by Brand's sex-crazed father that sparked a lifelong obsession: ALISON BOSHOFF

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