The Daily Mail has issued an apology to Noel Edmonds for an article it published in March that claimed he had behaved unprofessionally and unreasonably over the course of his career.
The article, headlined “Revenge of Mr Blobby”, said that Edmonds' behaviour caused major rows with his co-workers and that his “sole desire” was to return to the BBC despite having agreed to accept a £3 million contract with Channel 4.
Edmonds had filed a High Court writ against Associated Newspapers via lawyers Schillings which specified damages of more than £300,000.
The writ asked for aggravated damages and also sought an injunction banning repetition of the allegations at the centre of the story.
The Daily Mail has made a cash settlement with Edmonds, Schillings declined to reveal how much this was.
Related
In May, Edmonds referred to his legal row with the Mail in a Press Gazette interview. He said: "Yes and I am suing the Mail because they have been going for me for ages. If Paul Dacre is found floating in the Thames, I am the No.1 suspect!
"The Mail has attacked me through Alison Bowyer [a freelance journalist and author] who wrote an unauthorised biography about me [in 1999] which, looking back, I should have definitely taken action against.
"Instead, Virgin [Books], when I pointed out to them how inaccurate it was, decided not to print any more. She has just regurgitated some of the total lies that were in that book and the Mail ran that last year.
Content from our partners
"I have now got an action out against them for trying to say I am difficult to work with – which I am not; that we have tensions behind the scenes – which we haven't; that I had signed a new £3m contract – I haven't; and that all I want to do is go back to the BBC – which I don't.
"All this came under the headline 'Revenge Of Mr Blobby'.
Imagine how the bosses at Channel 4 feel – are they going to re-sign somebody who is apparently only using this show as a stepping-stone to the Beeb?
"There is the point at which you have to say, Enough. These things are very damaging. I don't know why the Mail has to be so incredibly negative about everything. The lies and distortions that they were writing about me – ugh! It latches on to someone and clearly you are in the column marked 'target' and 'negative'. It makes you want to stand on top of a mountain and shout out the truth."
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
