As far as grovelling apologies go, it couldn't get more obsequious. It was a measure of how seriously it takes itself. Blue Peter, a children's programme that has been aired on the BBC since 1958, became the most recent in a tidal wave of television and radio shows to admit conning the audience with a supposedly live phone-in competition.
In characteristically charitable mode, the Whose Shoes segment was designed to raise money for the Shoe Biz Appeal to help children orphaned by Aids in Malawi.
Viewers were shown a mystery celebrity's shoes alongside another visual clue and asked to choose the owner from three options. The prize was a choice of one of the top 10 toys at Christmas, and part of the cost of the call was to be given to the children's charity, Unicef.
Sadly, thanks to the perils of live transmission and the gremlins all too often associated with it, not one of the 13,862 viewers who rang in got through.
A panicking producer asked a girl visiting the studios as a prize from another competition to pose as a caller and 'win' this latest competition, which she duly did. The apology went out on all domestic BBC news outlets and on its website, as well as live during the show.
Details emerged during a week in which presenters on several supposedly live programmes were urging viewers to phone in using premium rate numbers to win prizes after potential winners had already been chosen. Sometimes the show in question was a repeat.
Every weekday, 15,000 viewers were paying #1 (HK$15) a time to enter a competition on the popular chat show Richard and Judy, broadcast on Channel 4, hoping to win a cash prize. The winners were selected within the first seven minutes of the broadcast, but viewers were still being urged to call after that. It's estimated the scam could have earned Channel 4 and the programme makers #1 million within nine months.