The BBC and Channel 4 have attracted fire for their previous support for Russell Brand, who was jailed this week after being convicted of raping a fan in early 2009.
However, it can be revealed that he had another powerful ally at this point, in the form of ITV executive Alison Sharman, the station’s controller of factual and daytime from 2005.
Much as controller Lesley Douglas supported Brand and protected him at BBC Radio 2, sources indicate that Sharman promoted him at ITV – where he was ‘lionised’, according to a source.
Ms Sharman had met Brand in 2006 at the Edinburgh festival
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