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The BBC yesterday announced that it would not air an interview with former Radio 1 DJ Andy Kershaw on Radio 4's 'On The Ropes', which looks at "the lives of successful people who have weathered storms in their careers". The interview with John Humphrys about Kershaw's efforts to rebuild "his life and career" after a series of much reported personal problems had been scheduled to run twice yesterday, but at the last minute it was decided that the broadcaster could not offer an "appropriate degree of privacy" to "other parties involved".

As previously reported, Kershaw was jailed for three months for breaching a restraining order barring him from contacting his former partner, Juliette Banner in January last year. He served 44 days of his sentence, but was then arrested again three days after his release for another breach, at which point he was given a six month suspended sentence and advised to leave his home on the Isle Of Man. He returned to Rochdale to live with his mother, but went on the run after a further breach resulted in a warrant for his arrest being issued in September. He was arrested again in December after returning to the Isle Of Man and given a second six month suspended sentence.

In a statement, the BBC said: "The aim of the programme was to explore the events leading to Kershaw's breakdown and his subsequent efforts to recover, whilst providing the other parties involved with an appropriate degree of privacy. This, however, did not prove possible. The programme was recorded and edited very close to the day of broadcast, hence the lateness of the decision to cancel".

It added that Kershaw's "behaviour throughout the interview was in no way an issue and had nothing to do with the decision to pull the programme".

Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer also spoke about the decision, via the official Radio 4 blog. He wrote: "We were mindful of the background and, in particular, the strained domestic circumstances surrounding the break-up of Andy Kershaw's long-term relationship and the legal order, the result of which makes it very difficult for him to have significant access to his children".