A catalogue of phone-in voting errors plagued a high profile BBC programme, understood to be Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, according to an independent enquiry released yesterday by the public broadcaster.

Viewers were not told of the cost of calls in the charity talent competition where calls cost more than 50p, and some of the votes sent in by text message were not counted because they took too long to collate. This year the show, which aired in March, was won by socialite Tara Palmer-Tompkinson.

On one occasion, phone numbers for two of the contestants were displayed incorrectly on both BBC One and a later BBC Three show, and the error was only corrected when “a family member” of one of the contestants told the production team that a mistake had been made.

The problems are spelled out in a report prepared for the BBC by consultants Deloitte this summer, but only released yesterday after repeated requests. Deloitte’s enquiry found a string of problems with the management of phone-ins in six shows, but did not spell out how viewer votes were mislaid.

Deloitte’s enquiry also makes clear that “due to the inherent latency” in counting text message voting, it was not possible to count texts sent in about 15 minutes before the end of any vote. Given the limited nature of the enquiry it is possible that text votes were routinely not counted in any voting or competition.

None of the six programmes are named in the report — in an apparent attempt to protect the identity of those involved — but there is enough information in the document to conclude that the show known only as “Entertainment 2” is Comic Relief Does Fame Academy.

A checkbox shows that the programme took over 750,000 phone calls, that the competition was for charity, and, unusually for a major BBC programme, was produced externally. The Fame Academy format is produced by Endemol, and this version was to raise money for this year’s Comic Relief.

In a statement the BBC said that Deloitte’s examination “has not identified any major issues or systemic failings in BBC compliance within the programmes reviewed” although the broadcaster conceded that “has identified a few instances of minor deviations from BBC best practice or guidelines”.

A similar enquiry by Deloitte for ITV, which looked at the commercial broadcaster’s flagship programmes, concluded that viewers had been deceived out of £7.8 million, in making calls in competitions and votes that did not count.

A catalogue of phone-in voting errors plagued a high profile BBC programme, understood to be Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, according to an independent enquiry released yesterday by the public broadcaster.

Viewers were not told of the cost of calls in the charity talent competition where calls cost more than 50p, and some of the votes sent in by text message were not counted because they took too long to collate. This year the show, which aired in March, was won by socialite Tara Palmer-Tompkinson.

On one occasion, phone numbers for two of the contestants were displayed incorrectly on both BBC One and a later BBC Three show, and the error was only corrected when “a family member” of one of the contestants told the production team that a mistake had been made.

The problems are spelled out in a report prepared for the BBC by consultants Deloitte this summer, but only released yesterday after repeated requests. Deloitte’s enquiry found a string of problems with the management of phone-ins in six shows, but did not spell out how viewer votes were mislaid.

Deloitte’s enquiry also makes clear that “due to the inherent latency” in counting text message voting, it was not possible to count texts sent in about 15 minutes before the end of any vote. Given the limited nature of the enquiry it is possible that text votes were routinely not counted in any voting or competition.

None of the six programmes are named in the report — in an apparent attempt to protect the identity of those involved — but there is enough information in the document to conclude that the show known only as “Entertainment 2” is Comic Relief Does Fame Academy.

A checkbox shows that the programme took over 750,000 phone calls, that the competition was for charity, and, unusually for a major BBC programme, was produced externally. The Fame Academy format is produced by Endemol, and this version was to raise money for this year’s Comic Relief.

In a statement the BBC said that Deloitte’s examination “has not identified any major issues or systemic failings in BBC compliance within the programmes reviewed” although the broadcaster conceded that “has identified a few instances of minor deviations from BBC best practice or guidelines”.

A similar enquiry by Deloitte for ITV, which looked at the commercial broadcaster’s flagship programmes, concluded that viewers had been deceived out of £7.8 million, in making calls in competitions and votes that did not count.

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