The National:

THE Unionist Question Time audience member who sparked controversy due to his appearance tally has threatened to "blow the lid on the BBC".

Billy Mitchell, who refers to himself as "orange jacket man", said that claims he appeared on the show four times were "not even close".

Mitchell was given 1:08 on the Question Time in Motherwell to rant at SNP minister Fiona Hyslop against the SNP and Scottish independence.

In a letter sent by Ian Small, BBC Scotland's head of public policy & corporate affairs, to all Scottish MPs and MSPs, the BBC claimed Mitchell had filled in his application form for the show inaccurately.

Question Time holds repeat appearances against potential audience members when deciding who to select.

Mitchell has claimed the BBC invited him on to the show – but the broadcaster denies that it does so.

In response, he posted an invite to the pilot of Debate Night, the Question Time-style show to be launched on BBC Scotland's new channel.

The tale has now taken another twist, after Mitchell claimed he was ready to "blow the lid on the BBC again".

He tweeted: "I sat down and looked up all the Q.T shows I was on and got all the dates and people who were on panel and I'm so tempted to blow the lid on bbc again... 4 times NOT EVEN CLOSE, if bbc want to start I'm ready"

He has not yet revealed more details about his claims.

Our inbox is always open if you'd like to make the facts known, Billy...