ITV’s ‘News At Ten’ encountered an problem on Wednesday (3 January) night, when a fire alarm in the studio forced the programme off air.
Tom Bradby was hosting the show when the alarm began sounding in the background, and he calmly informed viewers he needed to bring the proceedings to a premature close.
“We still have a fire alarm here and we’re not quite sure what to do about it, so I’m really, really sorry about this, but I’m afraid we have to evacuate the building,” he said. “These things happen and unfortunately it’s happened tonight and we have no choice, so I really apologise.
“We’ll get back to you with the rest of the programme if we possibly can, but for now it’s goodnight.”
The ‘News At Ten’ did not return, with the final ten minutes being replaced by a holding card:
The weather then aired and the rest of the night’s shows continued as normal.
A spokesperson for ITV later confirmed that the alarm was just a drill.
“We apologise for the interruption during the live broadcast of News at Ten this evening due to a fire alarm in the building,” they said. “All staff were safely evacuated according to fire drill procedures.”