Mr Grade said that it would be a “pretty serious matter” for Mark Thompson, the Director-General, if regulators found that the BBC had behaved irresponsibly by screening the musical. But Mr Grade suggested that it was no more offensive than Rodin’s The Kiss had been to 19th-century tastes or the “bonking” in Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective.

Yesterday Mr Grade revealed that, in a highly unusual move, he had intervened before the musical was broadcast on behalf of the governors, after the BBC received 45,000 complaints. “I sought and was given reassurances from Mark Thompson that he had satisfied himself that the programme was compliant in every respect,” Mr Grade told the Broadcasting Press Guild.

Solicitors for the Christian Voice group wrote to Mr Grade, claiming that broadcasting the show would “constitute a criminal offence of blasphemy”.

BBC governors and Ofcom, the regulator, are expected to undertake separate investigations into complaints about the programme, broadcast on BBC Two last weekend. But Mr Grade said that the governors must not intervene to prevent contentious programmes being broadcast. They had to rely on BBC management making the correct editorial decisions.

He said: “This may be tested in court. The question is, did Mark Thompson operate in line with the best advice or was it a negligent decision where advice (against proceeding) was ignored? That would be a pretty serious matter.” After watching a tape of the programme, Mr Thompson said: “I am a practising Christian but there is nothing in this which I believe to be blasphemous.”

This week a senior BBC Radio 3 producer resigned in protest at the programme. In a letter to the controller of Radio 3, Anthony Pitts wrote: “The blasphemy was far, far worse than the most detailed news reports had led me to believe.”

Mr Grade will sit on the Governors’ Programme Complaints Committee panel which may ultimately adjudicate on the programme.

Jerry Springer The Opera will close at the Cambridge Theatre next month to tour Britain after 609 performances in the West End.

Mr Grade also said that he expected a report from Mr Thompson on the controversy surrounding Kirsty Wark, the presenter, who invited Jack McConnell, Scotland’s First Minister, to share two family holidays. Sources suggest that the Newsnight host may be dropped from her role presenting BBC Scotland’s general election coverage after critics suggested that her impartiality could be questioned.

Mr Grade said: “We have a first-rate journalist whose impartiality has never been questioned. Issues have been raised about holidays with politicians and perceptions. I await to hear what the Director-General has to say when he presents his report to the next governors’ meeting.”

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