Jason Manford 'sorry' for Twitter messages

Jason Manford 'sorry' for Twitter messages
Jason Manford 'sorry' for Twitter messages (Image credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

One Show host Jason Manford has apologised after it was revealed he exchanged a series of Twitter messages with a female fan. The married comedian, 29, shared private messages with Debra McNamee, 22, after she contacted him through the social networking site. Father-of-two Jason said: "I can see now that what started out as a bit of messing about and having a laugh on Twitter has been misjudged and I'd like to apologise to anyone that this has offended as that was the last thing I ever intended to do." According to reports, the presenter, who hosts BBC One's flagship show, received two pictures of Ms McNamee, including a close-up of herself wearing a lacy bra. She told The Sun newspaper: "When I first sent a message to him I thought he would never reply. Famous people never do and I was surprised when he got in touch. "At first he just asked me about my dog and and what I was up to and things like that. But after a while it started to get a bit more flirty." The paper said that Jason, whose wife Catherine is expecting their third child next month, was first contacted by Ms McNamee on October 22. A day after it said he sent her a private message and asked her to send him a photo. Jason took over presenting The One Show from Adrian Chiles in July and works alongside Welsh co-host Alex Jones. He is an avid user of Twitter and has more than 200,000 followers.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.