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LONDON (AFP) - The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Wednesday suspended all phone-in and interactive competitions after admitting faking a string of them.

The revelations come in the wake of high-profile embarrassments for the flagship British broadcaster last week involving Queen Elizabeth II and a long-running children's show.

The BBC admitted faking the winners of phone-in competitions on three televised charity events -- Children In Need, Comic Relief and Sports Relief.

The BBC also said similar practices went on at three other programmes, with the set-up usually involving members of the production team ringing in, or the reading out of fictitious winners on air.

It raised questions about how widespread the practice is of broadcasters faking phone-in competitions.

Other British broadcasters have been in hot water in recent months over fixing phone-ins, which have proved a lucrative source of income.

For The Liz Kershaw Show on BBC 6 Music radio, the BBC admitted the "live" competition was pre-recorded and in fact, "there were no competitions or prizes and all of the callers were actually members of production team and their friends."

Another repeat offender, White Label on BBC World Service radio, announced fake winners of a CD competition on more than one occasion when no winning entries had been received.

The BBC Trust watchdog body said it was "deeply concerned that significant failures of control and compliance within the BBC, and in some cases by its suppliers, have compromised the BBC's values of accuracy and honesty."

The concern voiced by the Trust, which oversees standards at the broadcaster, came after BBC director-general Mark Thompson presented the internal audit findings to its members.

Last week the BBC was fined 50,000 pounds (75,000 euros, 100,000 dollars) for a phone-in scandal when a young studio guest posed as a phony competition winner on "Blue Peter", one of Britain's best-loved children's shows.

Only a few days later, it was forced to apologise to Queen Elizabeth after the editing of a trailer sequence implied that she stormed out of a photo shoot with celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz following a row over her crown.

Thompson said the BBC had had a "rude awakening," but insisted that the mistakes were not made out of personal gain or intended malice, but mainly during technical hitches when a problem had to be glossed over.

"A group of people have taken it upon themselves to carry out this kind of white lie. It is not acceptable, it is better to come clean -- the public will understand," he said on BBC television.

"What we are doing is seeking to understand what happened and why it happened.

"There is a range of sanctions available which can involve dismissal. Deceiving the public is utterly unacceptable, it is a gross breach of discipline. It will lead in most cases to immediate dismissal."

Richard Tait, from the BBC Trust, said the new disclosures harmed the BBC's reputation for integrity and honesty.

"It is quite damaging in the sense that this is an organisation that is respected around the world, seen as a trustworthy organisation around the world and a very trusted brand around the world.

"The fact that there are programmes on the BBC which are apparently setting out to deceive others is utterly unacceptable," he said on BBC television.