Poll: Was it right for the BBC to be given access to the raid on Sir Cliff Richard's home?

Sir Michael said the media's handling of the case was like a "witch-hunt" and called for greater protection of people's anonymity until they are charged.

The veteran TV host also criticised the media as a whole for its wider reaction to news that appears on social media, calling for it to be more responsible in how it handles information coming from such sources.

Was it right for the BBC to be given access to the raid on Sir Cliff Richard's home? Vote in our poll and have your say in the comment box below.

Criticising the media's handling of the search of Sir Cliff's home, over historic sex allegations, he said: "I just think that it's wrong. I think anybody not charged should not be named by the police, and shouldn't be reported in the newspapers either in my view.

"I think the Cliff Richard case only highlights the feeling there is some kind of witch hunt going on.

"I think the BBC did create an error in judgement, not in understanding the story and having the story and trying to follow it through, but in reacting to the story in a kind of way that would have done the red tops credit."

Sir Michael highlighted the case of Rolf Harris, whom he lived near to in Bray, Berkshire, as another situation where the media arrived at his home before police. He said:

"We should pursue people, of course, who have done wrong. That is indisputably the police's job. What I am concerned about is the manner in which they go about it and the manner in which the media follow through."

Sir Michael was scathing of the "social network", calling it "a urinal with writing on the wall".

Sir Cliff vehemently denies any wrongdoing and says he will speak to police. Officers were investigating claims of an assault on a boy made during a visit to Sheffield by US evangelist Billy Graham in the 1980s.