A damning BBC report highlighted one "untouchable" employee and shared that senior managers were perceived as not wanting to "rock the boat". The report, from Change Associates and led by management consultant Grahame Russell, said that at the BBC there is “a minority of people” whose bad behaviour “is not addressed."

The one "untouchable" employee, who was not named, had been "called out for exceptionally inappropriate language". The review says that Mr Russell and his team heard “examples of well-known names not being held to account for poor behaviour. Some names were repeated several times, others more infrequently.”

However, managers reportedly did not step in as they should have done. The report noted how a "senior manager was in the room" but was "perceived as deferring so as not to rock the boat."

Expanding on how those in manager roles dealt with inappropriateness, the review said: "We heard examples of on-air / on-screen presenters who are seen to be ‘difficult’ and who are ‘manmarked’ by BBC managers. The managers are aware of the presenters’ reputations and want to act as a buffer - to be on hand and provide feedback and reassurance in real-time. This is very different to addressing poor behaviour in the first place."

It continued: "Even though they are small in number, their behaviour creates large ripples which negatively impact the BBC’s culture and external reputation.”

“The perception was that senior management would turn an eye to poor behaviours when productions were award-winning or attracting large audiences.”

The report also shared how the lack of action impacted staff on the BBC show in question, with one staff member being quoted as saying: "Staff were impacted … there should have been zero tolerance and no nuance."

Those who the managers reportedly turn bit of a blind eye to are also seemingly aware that "no one wants to upset them". The report stated that one A-lister said: "As the so-called talent, I’m aware that no one wants to upset me, people laugh at jokes, fuss around me, can’t do enough for me – it is false and unnecessary, and I can see how over time, some would come to expect it."

BBC Chair Dr Samir Shah yesterday vowed to crack down on the badly behaved names operating within the Corporation. He said: "There is a minority of people whose behaviour is simply not acceptable. And there are still places where powerful individuals – on and off screen – can abuse that power to make life for their colleagues unbearable.

"If you think you’re too big a star or too important to live by the values of this organisation, then not only are you wrong, but we will find you out.”