PHONELINE watchdogs have launched an investigation after it emerged viewers urged to call a "live" cookery show - hosted by North Yorkshire chef James Martin - had no chance of getting on air because it had been recorded a week earlier.

Viewers of Saturday Kitchen on February 17 thought they would be able to speak to guests live on air when Mr Martin, from Malton, asked them to call in at a rate of 10p a minute.

But the 90-minute programme had been filmed a week earlier, on February 10, and they had no chance to speak to the celebrity chef or his guests.

The row is the second controversy to hit Cactus, the production company that made it, and Eckoh, the firm which runs the phone lines.

The companies are also being investigated over a phone-in on the Richard And Judy Show on Channel 4.

Viewers of that programme were invited to phone a quiz using a premium-rate line after entries had closed. Eckoh runs the lines for both shows.

The shows are now being investigated by Icstis, the regulator for premium-rate phone lines.

The time delay on the cookery show came to light when a watch worn by Mr Martin on the February 17 show gave the time as 2.30pm, different from the time of broadcast but the time of recording the previous week.

Because the February 10 and February 17 shows had been recorded together, viewers of the programme a week earlier had also lost out, because they were invited to phone in at 25p a minute to enter a competition to appear live in "next week's show", which was in fact about to be recorded.

The BBC claims the presenter made a mistake by asking people to call in and enter a competition to appear on the following week's show.

A spokeswoman for Icstis said it was actively investigating the allegation and has contacted the phone line's service provider, Eckoh-Technologies.

"We will be in primary contact with them to establish what happened, but we will also be gathering information from the broadcaster", she said.

A BBC spokesman said: "The BBC has always made it clear to the makers of Saturday Kitchen that pre-recorded material should not be presented as live.

"It has come to our attention that the phrasing used when inviting viewers to contact the programme was ambiguous on the few occasions the programme was pre-recorded.

"To avoid any future misunderstanding, the BBC has decided Saturday Kitchen will always be a live show from now on. Neither the programme makers nor the BBC profits from phone lines on the programme. Any residual money from these lines is donated to a charity nominated by the BBC."