Comedian Tam Cowan will return to BBC Scotland's Off the Ball this weekend after the corporation agreed to lift his suspension.

Cowan was banned from presenting the show following the publication of his controversial column about women's football in the Daily Record last month.

However, the BBC has now lifted his suspension and he will return to the air on Saturday.

A BBC spokesperson said: "We've had several discussions with Tam following his newspaper column and he has made it clear to us that he made a serious error of judgement, for which he has apologised. He has also been reminded of his responsibilities as a broadcaster for BBC Scotland and on that basis, he will be back co-presenting Off the Ball this weekend."

Cowan was accused of sexism and widely criticised after he referred to women's football as a 'turgid spectacle' and described the players as 'blokes' in his newspaper column. He also suggested that a football stadium should be torched in order to 'cleanse' it after it played host to a women's match.

He has since apologised for his comments and said that he plans to make a donation to Scottish Women's Football.

In an apology in the Daily Record last month, he said: "The reaction to Saturday's piece on women's football has been quite incredible but I can assure you I meant it tongue-in-cheek.

"Hands up it was a spectacular OG and I want to apologise to anyone who was offended. Particularly Scottish Women's Football.

"In 15 years as a Daily Record columnist it has never been my objective to deliberately upset readers - that's a totally pointless exercise - and I've only tried to have a laugh, a joke and a carry-on.

"I've never expected anyone to take my column too seriously and I suppose my patter's a bit like a bride on her wedding day - something old, something new, something borrowed and, yes, something blue. More often than not, my sense of humour - just like my choice of music and my Nokia 3210 - is a wee bit old fashioned."

Spiers on Sport: in defence of Tam Cowan

Tam Cowan's cheap shot was beyond a joke

Gary Johnston: Tam's diatribe wasn't funny... but it wasn't offensive either