Pulling the pluggers

In these difficult times, spare a thought for the unsung victims of the media song and dance surrounding Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand’s prank calls to Andrew Sachs; the pluggers.

Now that Ross’s shows have been cancelled for the foreseeable future, the pluggers for any number of stars are without two of the most popular shows on television and radio to promote whatever book, CD or film their charges have out at the moment. They will be forced to go cap in hand to the producers of The Paul O’Grady Show, This Morning, Loose Women and the like, hopeful that they have a little bit of traction left with these shows, despite having initially taken their stars to the Ross show.

The absence leaves a hole that needs to be filled – the BBC has already lost The Killers and Miley Cyrus as a consequence of the cancellation of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross – and there is only so much humble pie a plugger can chow down on and, more importantly, only so much space the TV can fill in prime time slots like the one currently vacated by Ross.