The BBC was in turmoil on Sunday after its director-general dramatically quit over a report by the British broadcaster's flagship news show that wrongly accused a politician of child sex abuse.

George Entwistle's departure, after just two months in the job, plunges the BBC into fresh crisis following a separate scandal surrounding Jimmy Savile, the late BBC star now alleged to have been a prolific sex offender.

"The wholly exceptional events of the past few weeks have led me to conclude that the BBC should appoint a new leader," Entwistle said outside the broadcaster's London headquarters late Saturday.

"To have been the director-general of the BBC even for a short period, and in the most challenging of circumstances, has been a great honor."

The 50-year-old's leadership is the shortest in the BBC's history.

Entwistle announced his resignation the day after the BBC's flagship news program Newsnight was forced to apologize for wrongly implicating a senior Conservative party figure in abuse at a Welsh children's home in the 1970s.

The director-general said that although he had not been aware of last week's Newsnight report before it was aired, quitting was "the honorable thing to do" since he was editor-in-chief, and ultimately responsible for all BBC output.

He had earlier said he would not resign unless asked to do so by the corporation's governing body, the BBC Trust.

"I am doing the right things to try and put this stuff straight," he insisted in an interview on BBC radio.

Tim Davie, BBC's director of audio and music, will take over immediately as acting director-general.