Hotel Babylon star Max Beesley today accepted a formal apology and “substantial” damages from gossip website Popbitch at London’s High Court.

The actor sued after Popbitch Ltd claimed in its weekly celebrity gossip e-mail to members that he had lined up three women for sex at a TV industry party in Cannes.

In the 11 October issue of the e-mail, which is sent to roughly 360,000 people, it was also claimed that Beesley told one woman who had turned him down to go away so he could find someone else.