Phone-in deceptions at three ITV programmes, including the hugely popular Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, have been identified in a new report.

A long-awaited review by the accountants Deloitte & Touche found "serious editorial issues" in a number of shows prompting chairman Michael Grade to promise a comprehensive scheme to reimburse affected viewers.

Nearly 9 million callers are now eligible for refunds. The total cost of the clean-up, encompassing phone-in problems at GMTV, will come to £18 million, of which £7.8 million will be viewer reimbursements.

Mr Grade apologised to the ITV audience, telling them: "Let me say, on behalf of ITV, that we deeply regret what has happened and how sorry we are for breaking trust with our viewers."

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He added: “My overall conclusion from the review is that there was a serious cultural failing within ITV.

“It is only by understanding how things went wrong in the past, and being open about them, that we can be sure that we get them right now and in the future. The purpose of the review wasn’t limited to flushing out the problems and learning the lessons. We have used it to assess viewers’ losses, so that we can reimburse them.”

However, despite his “zero tolerance approach” to audience deception, no one will be fired as a result of the findings.

While phone-in scandals and fakery have led to the departure of several senior BBC executives - including BBC1 boss Peter Fincham and former Blue Peter editor Richard Marson - Mr Grade said he wished to avoid a culture of blame.

“In some instances there has been disciplinary action, but I don’t intend to take a couple of token scalps in expiation. That would not solve the problem.”

ITV staff involved in phone-in failures had not deliberately sought to dupe viewers, he said.

“These failings were not venal. In all cases individuals were motivated by their professional instinct to produce the best show, but they failed to understand that this could come at the expense of keeping faith with participating viewers.

“Those involved thought they were working to make the best programmes. The effective solution is to change the culture, to change the system, to understand the importance of trust.”

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