'Brand and Ross have destroyed my family': Andrew Sachs' daughter finally breaks her silence
Kate Sachs settled down with some trepidation to watch Jonathan Ross's return to primetime TV last night.
She was understandably nervous; the last time the chat-show host was allowed on air, he publicly humiliated her father Andrew, and revealed that her 23-year-old daughter had had tawdry sex with comedian Russell Brand.
She had hoped that Ross would show some humility and abandon the bravado he has expressed throughout his three-month suspension from the BBC; at the very least, that he would not make light of the foul-mouthed answer-machine message he and Brand left for her beloved 78-year-old father.
That now infamous message, in which Brand boasted about 'f******' Kate's daughter, Georgina Baillie, has torn the once-close Sachs family asunder.
But if reports of the pre-recording of the show on Thursday are anything to go by, the slim comfort brought by a seemingly genuine apology at the start of the programme was swiftly extinguished as Ross cracked a succession of jokes about what happened.
'He's being his usual self,' declares Kate, 47, in her first interview since the scandal broke. 'He's showing that he's back and unchanged and can do as he likes. The apologetic introduction was fine, but he started sniping about the saga straight afterwards.
'Ross is reacting to the public hype rather than to my family. He's ridiculing people's reaction to the radio broadcast and the BBC for its censorship of him.
'But what people forget when they discuss the public fallout is that at the heart of it all lies a very real, very painful hurt which was inflicted on a decent, undeserving man - my father.
"It's strange that Ross still can't see what he did wrong - he shows no emotional intelligence or sensitivity.
'He is obviously playing up for the public - I just hope that in private moments his conscience speaks to him.'
At the end of his show, Ross told the audience they could 'forget the last three months has happened'. But the Sachs family will never be able to. The three months which Ross callously described as 'fun' on his internet blog have been nothing short of horrendous for this once-serene family.
In short, the incident has caused a cataclysmic rift, one which may never be healed. Georgina - who was exposed in a torrent of pornographic images as a member of burlesque dance group the Satanic Sluts during the furore - has not spoken to her horrified grandparents since.
Kate, meanwhile, finds herself torn between her parents and her headstrong daughter.
Even Christmas could not bring this shattered family together. Raven-haired Georgina spent it in America. No Christmas cards were exchanged and there was no peace-making phone call.
Andrew Sachs - most famous for his role of Manuel in comedy classic Fawlty Towers - and wife Melody could comfort themselves only with the thought that Georgina's absence meant she was taking a break from her relentless flaunting of her story in the downmarket press.
By comparison, Ross and Brand have gone virtually unpunished. Both returned to work this week. Ross back at the BBC on his £6 million salary, Brand beginning a nationwide stand-up tour - during his act he refers crudely to the Radio 2 broadcast in which he and Ross left those lewd messages and even replays the offensive recording to audiences, revelling in his exposure.
But back in the real world, Kate has to deal with the emotional legacy of Ross and Brand's behaviour. Her parents struggle to understand how the granddaughter they paid to educate could end up leading such a seedy existence. Indeed, Melody says she has no wish to speak to her again.
'The past three months have been incredibly stressful and upsetting,' says Kate, a childcare assistant from North London.
'Watching the pain the broadcast caused my parents was terrible, and that pain hasn't ended because not only do Ross and Brand continue to joke about what happened, but my parents and daughter now don't speak.
'My mother is very angry with Georgina - at one point I couldn't even mention Georgie's name in front of her. Our relationship became very strained, which was awful, as I am incredibly close to my parents and live just a few doors away from them.
'Meanwhile, Georgie is in turmoil but can't bring herself to contact them; she doesn't know how to mend things. It's so sad as we are such a loving family and Mum used to idolise Georgie.
'I have tried to support both my parents and my daughter, but being caught in the middle is dreadful. I largely kept quiet and concentrated on just loving everyone and being there for them.'
Kate has certainly been there - she was with her father when, while out walking his dogs, he received the infamous phone call from show producer Nick Philps playing back the recording of Russell Brand's show.
Brand and Ross
'The pair of them are just sick': Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross broadcasting before making an apology to Andrew Sachs on Brand's BBC Radio 2 show
'Dad didn't understand what was going on,' recalls Kate. 'He couldn't hear very well, but said he wasn't happy with the content.
She was also there when her mother came round from an emergency hip replacement in hospital to find her husband being publicly humiliated on TV.
'That was the first I knew of the story,' says Kate. 'I arrived at hospital to find my mum awake, watching the TV news and incredibly distressed. Then my father came, clearly shaken but putting on a brave face for Mum.
'That was the most upsetting part of the whole saga - the emotional toll it took on my parents. I hated seeing them like that.'
Kate listened online to the broadcast at home that evening.
'What upset me most was Brand's comment before their phone call, telling the audience that what Andrew Sachs "doesn't know is that I've sh****d his granddaughter".
'When one group of people is in on something while someone else is kept in the dark and made fun of - that is typical bullying behaviour. Brand set out to humiliate my father and would have done so whether or not my father answered the phone. That's what I find hardest to forgive - it's so cruel.'
But worse was to come. A relentless series of near-naked pictures of Georgina appeared in the press, exposing her as a dominatrix who performed fake blood sacrifices.
Until that point, Andrew and Melody had not known about her secret life, and they were further devastated when she went against their wishes and sold her story.
'I was very concerned when Georgie said she was speaking to her agent about press opportunities,' says Kate. 'When she mentioned Max Clifford my heart sank. I warned her to be careful, saying: "Think very carefully, Georgie, please." But she brushed it off. She's 23 and doesn't want to listen to her parents.' Or her grandparents, evidently.
Kate knew Georgina had done a deal only when she saw her speaking on TV in an interview with The Sun newspaper - yet she claims she wasn't annoyed.
Georgina
Kate says her daughter Georgina is not afraid of who she is. 'I love her for that'
'I thought she handled herself remarkably well, suddenly being thrown into this huge, unknown situation. She's young and wants success. I am not going to judge her.'
However, Andrew and Melody expressed their concerns to Kate, even writing a letter asking Georgina to stop the publicity drive, but the interviews and photoshoots continued - each article bringing shocking new anecdotes about her history of drug-taking and pornography.
'My parents were really upset that Georgie gave interviews,' says Kate. 'They wanted her to stop but she wanted to make the best of the situation - to "make hay while the sun shone", as she said.
'I'm very close to my parents and it matters to me what they think and feel, but at the same time I need to support my daughter.'
Does Kate feel responsible? 'No, I definitely don't feel responsible for what my daughter does and how my parents feel about it - she is her, I am me, and they are them.
'We all make our own choices and while people have different opinions neither is wrong. I see how it has affected Mum and Dad but I also see what Georgie wants.
'I think it is largely a generational difference. Mum and Dad are very respectable and horrified by the things Georgie has done - the sex industry is totally alien to them. I tried to put her case across to my parents but there is such strong feeling there that, instead of helping, it came between us and risked ruining my relationship with them.
'We now have an unspoken agreement that we don't talk about Georgie. Mum's accepted that I am not about to disown my daughter.'
Of course, the revelations hit Kate hard, too - no mother wants to hear their daughter has been taking drugs and working in the pornography industry.
'I already knew some of the things she'd done - I knew she'd slept with Brand because she told me when he first started texting her,' she says.
'Initially, she didn't want to get involved because of his reputation but then became fond of him. It was still shocking when their liaison came out - suddenly very private details were very public. I was amazed he'd been so indiscreet.'
Kate also knew about the Satanic Sluts, who often rehearsed at her flat. 'They are lovely, friendly girls. I didn't watch them practise but looked up a video of their act on YouTube.' She laughs nervously. 'They're providing entertainment for a niche and that's fine.'
The diplomatic answer of a protective mother? 'No, I really believe that. Nobody would have known what she did if Brand hadn't brought it up - she had never shouted about who she slept with or what she does before all this.
'She's not hurting anyone - she performs only in places where people go who want to see things like that. She's just getting on with her life. I know Georgie and respect her choices - I brought my kids up to express themselves.'
The heavy drug use and pornography films were, however, news to Kate. 'I was surprised by the more extreme stuff, especially the drugs. That made me really sad.
'I believed she wasn't into that because a friend of hers died at school from an overdose. I thought that lesson would stay with her.
'But I am actually incredibly proud of Georgie, because she decided last year to get her life back on track and stopped doing drugs.'
And the porn? 'I don't like to think about that. She did stupid things but she's not like that now.
Georgie left a note warning me that things about her might come out. 'I might not think some stuff she's done is ideal, but I accept her for what she is. She is my daughter.'
Kate says she's been more disturbed by the public's reaction. 'People have judged Georgina - I've read some horrible stuff about my daughter. They don't know the Georgie I know - they don't know the girl who curls up on the sofa with me in her bedsocks and needs cuddles from her mum.
'We're all allowed our own views and Georgie isn't ashamed of who she is and I love her for that.'
In interviews, Georgina blamed Kate's 2004 divorce from her father, actor and building company director, Charlie Baillie, for driving her towards drugs and pornography; more specifically on her mother's absence.
'It's true that when I split from her dad and she went off the rails I was off my own rails, so I was of no help to her. It makes me very sad that me leaving her dad caused so much pain and that I wasn't there when she needed me.
Georgina Baillie
Georgina has stopped doing drugs and according to her mother has her life back on track
'I moved out because it was me who wanted a divorce. Georgie was 19 by then. She was no child, and I didn't live far away, so was around physically, but emotionally I wasn't there for my children.
'For a couple of years we were all going through something - I was dealing with the breakdown of my 22-year marriage.
'But my kids have always had my unconditional love and I was completely there for her before that time, which perhaps made it harder when I wasn't.
'It's not what happens to you in life, it's how you deal with things, and other people may not have got into pornography and drugs. Nevertheless, that's what happened, that's her, that's how she was feeling and how she reacted.
'We have gradually rebuilt our relationship over the past two years and are much closer now.
'I do know a lot of stuff about her which I didn't before, and I'm glad because now I understand what she was going through and that I wasn't there. I respect her for being strong and brave.' This fierce defence of her daughter's behaviour is all the more surprising given that while her daughter is so extrovert, she is far more reflective.
Her greatest sadness is that her father will be forever associated with the scandal instead of his work. 'He is such a well-respected and liked man. This has cheapened the public perception of him,' she says quietly.
Which is perhaps why Kate is so keen for things to be forgotten. 'Of course I've been angry - Ross and Brand were cruel, childish and irresponsible, and the unbroadcast part about breaking into my dad's house to masturbate him was sick and offensive.
'But I just wish they would learn something from it and leave it alone so we could all move on.'
Ross and Brand may be glad to get back to business as usual - even if that business is opening up old wounds - but Kate simply wants to put it behind her.
'I hope that in time things will change - sometimes you just need a period of silence before healing can happen.'
How unfortunate, then, that the two men who took it upon themselves to shatter her family are still refusing to shut up.
