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Sir Alistair Graham, chairman of Icstis, made his comments after Five suspended all programming involving premium-rate phonelines.

He said: "I assure you we will refer any such evidence to the police."

He made this comments as the regulator announced measures to restore faith in premium-rate services including a licensing regime and systematic monitoring.

Jane Lighting, the chief executive of Five, along with Michael Grade, the ITV executive chairman, and Andy Duncan, the Channel 4 chief executive, will now be called to explain their company's actions in front of a House of Commons media select committee.

Five said that incidents involving its programmes took place between January and March 6 and were brought to the broadcaster's attention by Endemol, after Five wrote to all its production companies and suppliers reminding them of their obligations to comply with the law and the codes of Ofcom and Icstis.

Endemol has told Five that its subsidiary Cheetah Television, the producer of 'Brainteaser', put fictional names on screen as winners, instead of informing viewers that no winning caller had been found before the winner was due to be announced.

Lighting has said that she wanted to apologise "unreservedly to the channel's viewers and was shocked and disappointed" that Cheetah had "failed to meet the high standards we demand of our suppliers".

Five has now suspended all programming featuring premium-rate lines, including 'Quiz Call'.

Five is the last of the terrestrial broadcasters to have been embroiled in the row about premium-rate calls. In the last few weeks, it has emerged that BBC One's 'Saturday Kitchen', Channel 4's 'Richard and Judy', ITV's 'X Factor', 'Dancing on Ice' and 'Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway' have been affected by irregularities.

On Tuesday, ITV said it had suspended its premium-rate phoneline activities and appointed independent auditor Deloitte to look into the matter. It has been estimated, by media analysts Credit Suisse, that the broadcaster is losing up to £1.5m a week.