Disgraced presenter Jonathan Ross may not return to the BBC at all after his three-month ban, said fellow broadcaster Sir Terry Wogan.

Ross has been suspended without pay for his role in making lewd phone calls to Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs and on Friday his career suffered another blow after he stepped down as host of the British Comedy Awards.

Radio 2 breakfast show host Sir Terry said the suspension of Ross - which will cost him £1.5 million in salary - has diminished "not just him but also his reputation".

He said "What the BBC have done to Jonathan by the suspension is terminal. It is very damaging to him and I would not be surprised if he did not come back."

Ross and fellow DJ Russell Brand left messages on Sachs' answer phone claiming Brand had slept with his granddaughter, Georgina Baillie. They were broadcast on Brand's Saturday night Radio 2 show.

The ensuing scandal cost Brand his BBC career, and also forced the highly-regarded Radio 2 boss Lesley Douglas to resign.

Amid a chorus of protests from supporters of the station controller, presenter Jeremy Vine questioned how Ross could return to the station at the end of his suspension.

He said: "It will be interesting to see how he manages given the damage to this radio station.

"I'm going to be interested to see that - I'm not quite sure how it's going to work."

Ross's regular Radio 2 slot today is being taken over by Richard Allinson.

The announcement that Ross is stepping down as Comedy Awards host came during preparations for a lavish Halloween party last night at his multi-million pound home in Hampstead, north London.

Guests at the annual extravaganza included comedians Jack Dee and Alan Carr, Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles and boxer Chris Eubank. There were also hundreds of children, but Ross did not make an appearance.

Comedian Jimmy Carr, who was seen entering Ross's home yesterday, is being tipped as favourite to take the job.

Ross provoked fury at the BBC by joking at last year's ceremony after saying his #6 million annual salary was "worth 1,000 BBC journalists".

In the wake of the fallout over this week's lewd call scandal, BBC chairman Sir Michael Lyons demanded "tighter editorial controls" over the corporation's output, a comment which sparked fears for the future of cutting-edge comedy on the BBC.

© Independent Television News Limited 2009. All rights reserved.