BBC TALK SHOW HOST ENDS 13-YEAR RUN

Famed British talk-show host Jonathan Ross closed out his 13-year run on the BBC Friday night with a show that featured actors Mickey Rourke and Jackie Chan and soccer star David Beckham (who sat on Ross’s lap during the interview). The often controversial Ross — he was suspended by the BBC last year after a prank phone call with comedian Russell Brand to actor Andrew Sachs — left on a note of controversy not altogether of his own making. Some 150 people who had received free tickets to sit in the audience for the finale were forced to watch in a basement studio after all the seats in the main studio were filled, many by the show’s staffers and guests. One man was quoted by the London Daily Mirror as saying, “It was hot and sweaty and we ended up penned into a small basement. I was furious.” A spokesman for Ross’s production company said, “Tickets are not necessarily a guarantee of admission. The majority of all those who arrived gained entry into the studio.” The BBC said today (Monday) that the show averaged 4.73 million viewers, a 30.4-percent share. Ross is due to take up new digs at ITV sometime next year.