Deal or No Deal presenter Noel Edmonds has said broadcasters must "take the initiative" to restore trust in British TV after the damaging spate of fakery scandals, which also saw his Channel 4 show hit with a £500,000 fine for running an unfair competition.

Ofcom fined Channel 4 over Edmonds' daytime quiz in December, with the regulator saying the seriousness of the case was compounded by the contest running for seven weeks in spite of the broadcaster knowing the odds were skewed towards early entrants.

Edmonds today backed the censure, saying he did not want the phone-in quiz - which has now been axed - to be part of the show in the first place.

"It was a bit of a shock to me to be honest," he said of the scandal, at a press event in London to launch his new Sky One show, Noel's HQ http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/ju ... television

"I hated the competition. I felt it destroyed the atmosphere of the show and it didn't engage the public. But competitions like that became the norm for every single format. Everyone was doing it," Edmonds added.

"The way Deal of No Deal was treated [by Ofcom] was fair. They were censured but I don't think it was that serious compared to some of the out-and-out examples [of other deception scandals]. There were some really disappointing practices and some appalling frauds that went on," he said.

"That is history [for Deal or No Deal] now. Our relationship with the viewers has not been affected and the audience figures are extraordinary."

Edmonds said the "headlong pursuit of audience figures" had not given viewers better TV and that it was up to broadcasters to do more to win back viewers.

"We all know TV has lost its position of trust with the British public," he added.

"It has gone through a very damaging period and it is up to broadcasters to take the initiative. As an industry we have to recognise that we have got to rebuild the trust with the viewer."

Edmonds said his new Sky One show, which is due to launch as a live one-off 90-minute special in September, would attempt to make the country a better place by rewarding people who do good deeds as well as "naming and shaming jobsworths".

He dismissed the response of politicians to current concerns, such as knife crime, saying they were not doing enough.

"The starting point has to be an acceptance that we have issues in this country that need to be addressed," Edmonds said.

"We have to accept that something in our society has happened and someone needs to do something about it. We have got a situation where it would appear the leading politicians think their only dialogue with the public is with the ballot box once every four or five years," he added.

The Sky One controller, Richard Woolfe, added he wanted the new show to be a "force for good and enable people to do great things".

Woolfe also confirmed that Edmonds would return to Sky One for a second instalment of Noel's Christmas Presents over the festive period, as well as a second series of quizshow Are You Smarter Than a 10 Year old?.