I am very disappointed by the way that this remarkable episode with Russell Brand has played out and by the dismal performance of his BBC editors.

There is no doubt that the show that kicked everything off was an appalling failure of taste and decency and that the calls involved should never have been made much less broadcast. 

However, Brand is one of the most talented comedians to come out of the UK in the last ten years. He has a unique combination of wit, intelligence, education and unusually for a comedian, kindness with his interviewees. His radio show was top of the ratings for a reason and by far the medium he was strongest in.

He is also a loose cannon though, a fact which is alien to no one who knows the slightest bit about him. He's never malicious but he is unpredictable and over excitable. This is a man who was fired from MTV for dressing as Osama Bin Laden on September the 12th '01. This is why the radio show is pre-recorded and why the BBC producers made sure they had editorial control.

Brand is a once in a generation talent who needs to be managed but also protected. He brings huge amount of entertainment to millions of people but has a highly unstable and addictive personality that pushes the boundaries in ways that are both brilliant and dangerous. These characteristics should in no way be alien to broadcasters; bipolar disorders, alcoholism and addiction have been crosses borne by many of the best comedians throughout history. This is why editors and producers exist and these are the people that failed Brand dismally through this episode.

The call was terrible no doubt but Brand has ended up the fall guy for a situation which should have been far better managed by the BBC and were he not such a significant figure, would have seen Ross, the real culprit, resign instead. 

It is unavoidable that Brand resign but he was not the one responsible. Yes, ideally he should have known better but, he doesn't, everyone knows he doesn't and that's the deal with prodigy, it doesn't come polished. Brand was an instinctual creature caught at the middle of a tragedy of errors and let down badly by Jonathan Ross and by a management who should have known better.