BBC News suddenly taken off air as staff forced to evacuate studio-Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro

BBC North East and Cumbria studios were evacuated (Picture: Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

BBC News were forced off air and staff were suddenly evacuated on Tuesday morning, interrupting a live broadcast.

Reports state that a fire alarm went off in the building, as staff were escorted outside and live programming interrupted.

BBC North East and Cumbria reporters evacuated before the breakfast programme began.

A statement later posted read: ‘Apologies to our Look North viewers. The fire alarm went off just before our last breakfast bulletin which meant we had to evacuate the building.

‘We will be back at 1:30 with the lunchtime Look North.’

The studios, which are located in Newcastle, hosts local news bulletins for North East and Cumbria, while main national news bulletins are broadcast from studios in Manchester.

Apologies to our Look North viewers. The fire alarm went off just before our last breakfast bulletin which meant we had to evacuate the building. We will be back at 1:30 with the lunchtime Look North.— BBC North East and Cumbria (@BBCNEandCumbria) February 7, 2023

Viewers were left confused over the morning interruption, with one writing: ‘Hope all’s OK. We were wondering what had happened.’

This isn’t the first time a BBC fire alarm has interrupted live programming.

In March, presenters Rachel Burden and Roger Johnson were midway through conducting an interview with The Apprentice winner Harpreet Kaur when they were interrupted.

‘We’ve been disturbed by an alarm which may mean that we have to slow things down for a moment,’ Rachel said, after an alarm went off.

‘I’m so sorry everyone. For the time being, we’re going to have to leave the studios.

‘So we’ll see if we can come back before the end of the show,’ she explained.

Over the alarm, a voice could be heard saying: ‘Attention, attention, please evacuate the building via the nearest exit. Please do not use the lifts.’

More to come…

This is a breaking news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.

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