Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross talk of their 'regret' over 'Sachsgate'

Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross have spoken about the 'Sachsgate' scandal together on television for the first time.

Speaking during Brand's appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show, the pair told of their "regret" and "embarrassment" over the incident, which resulted in them both leaving the BBC.

Brand said he was wrapped up in the comedy value of their stunt, and lost perspective of "reality" when they left near-the-knuckle messages during a prank call which caused outrage.

The pair reflected on their behaviour and told how though it brought them close as friends as Brand appeared on the show to be screened on ITV tomorrow.

The pair caused a furore in 2008 when they left smutty messages on veteran actor Andrews Sachs's answerphone during a pre-recorded Radio 2 show. It led to the departure of the station controller, and both Brand and Ross left the BBC as a result of the fallout.Speaking during the recording of his chat show, Ross said: "Let's deal with this, because we're both keen to put this behind us. People, I think are perhaps curious as to how we felt about it afterwards."

"We did both regret the furore that we caused, and also the hurt it may have caused Mr Sachs and his family."

Ross told how the incident had been a bonding experience for the two of them - and had been a "genuinely nice thing" which had resulted from the controversy."Russell and I went through an unusual experience together and even though we're both embarrassed by what we did, that's fair enough - but at the same time, the only genuinely nice thing that came out of it for me was the fact that we became very close," he said.

The Jonathan Ross show is screened on ITV on Saturday at 9.45pm