Music fans have been deluged with spam after a security breach on a BBC electronic mailing list.

It is understood that the breach affected subscribers to the BBC Electric Proms music festival mailing list, who have received emails offering anti-impotence drugs.

Details of the incident are unclear, but the BBC has acknowledged that the list had been mishandled.

"As a result of an administrative error, spam mail received by the BBC was accidentally sent out to subscribers of the Electric Proms mailing list," a BBC spokeswoman told The Daily Telegraph.

"We apologise for this mistake and have contacted everyone on the list to explain the situation. We wish to assure all subscribers that no details have been passed on to third-party companies and all the data held on our systems is completely secure."