BBC Breakfast was pulled from the air mid-interview this morning (Saturday, March 26) after a loud alarm sounded and instructed people to leave the studio immediately.
Hosts Roger Johnson and Rachel Burden were in the middle of interviewing Apprentice winner Harpreet Kaur when the noise of the alarm could be heard, Coventry Live reports. The incident has since been confirmed as a "false alarm".
The presenters appeared to be unsure of how to react as they apologised to their guest and looked around for instruction. It was almost a minute before they confirmed they would be evacuating and that the live broadcast would end, shortly before 10am this morning.
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Rachel said: "So, we've been disturbed," as a piercing ring sounded and an announcement urged: "Attention, attention, please evacuate by the nearest available exit."
There seemed to be some initial confusion over what would happen before the presenters made their apologies and the orange BBC Breakfast screen was shown.
However, it seems not to have affected the entire morning schedule as Saturday Kitchen Live was able to air as normal. This is due to the the programme coming from a different set of studios.
Some viewers criticised the presenters' apparent lack of urgency to evacuate amid the confusion. Roger Johnson tweeted shortly before 10.30am about the alarm, but did not give any details about why they had been evacuated.
He tweeted: "So, at 5 to 10, @BBCBreakfast was taken off air by a fire alarm. It interrupted the start of our interview with #apprenticefinal winner @harpsikaur
"…we’ve recorded another one and it will be on tomorrow’s programme - just before 9am. #ClocksGoForward"
Later Rachel tweeted: "It’s all ok folks - false alarm and yes I did get some cookie pie and get to chat to the fabulous @harpsikaur."
