Programmes that were on when major news broke

[Deleted User] · 17/04/13 - 20:15

Des O Connor Tonight was on ITV when ITN broke news of a plane crashing and exploding over Lockerbie on that fateful evening December 21 1988

When news broke of Maggie Thatcher,s death at Lunchtime on April 8 the Loose Woman were preparing to return from an ad break

What programmes were on at times when major news broke

MissCulture · 17/04/13 - 20:30

I was watching the film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers on TV when a news flash came on just after 10.30am that Princess Diana had been in a car crash and that Dodi was dead. This was in Australia of course, and given the time diff the accident was 2 hours old. The film never came back on, we watched the tv news updates for the rest of the afternoon. The very first report of her death came via the radio.

Billy Hicks · 17/04/13 - 20:37

Amazingly in retrospect, neither ITV and BBC1 interrupted their programmes the moment 9/11 broke and instead waited for an appropriate point - ITV waited until the advert-break of Crossroads began (a part 2 that, I think, never ended up being shown) while BBC1 let Neighbours continue to the end before cutting to a news report, both of which only after the second plane had hit. I suppose before then the severity of the situation wasn't as apparent, and of course News 24 was covering it from early on for those who had digital.

I remember BBC2 a few months later were showing a repeat of Steptoe & Son that faded out a few minutes in to break the news of the Queen Mother's death. The last 'news report' I remember seeing live on one of the main channels was the death of James Callaghan in 2005, shown (I think) straight after the first revived episode of Doctor Who. It's less needed now everyone's got 24 hour news channels.

EDIT: Another one from 2005 - BBC Four's live broadcast of a remake of The Quatermass Experiment had the words "MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT ON BBC NEWS 24 NOW" (or something to that regard) overlaid across the screen near the end, as Pope John Paul II had just died.

Shrike · 17/04/13 - 20:38

Only one I can recall is the snooker final being interupted when the SAS stormed the Iranian embassy back in 1980.

I think all the other things like the IRA bombing Thatcher, 9/11, Princess Di, the attempted coup against Gorbachev I heard on the radio.

ftv · 17/04/13 - 20:50

CBS interrupted its day-time soap for the announcement of Kennedy's assassination but Walter Cronkite couldn't appear in vision for a while because the studio cameras had been switched off and had to warm up !

degsyhufc · 17/04/13 - 20:51

This Week wasn't interrupted but Andrew Neil did annouce than Michael Jackson had died.

Billy Hicks · 17/04/13 - 20:52

The terrible, terrible song 'Bingo' by Catch is made even worse in many people's minds if they were watching the ITV Chart Show on a certain August 1997 morning, as it's what was playing when they faded out the progamme and broke the news of the Diana accident.

crisso69 · 17/04/13 - 20:58

Yes, 'Shrike' - I recollect I was watching the Crucible Snooker on BBC2 when, the picture faded then, briefly re-appeared showing a Western involving Cowboys and Indians racing across the Prairie on horseback (BBC1?). This in turn quickly faded, before the iconic images of the SAS came on the screen. Presumably both BBC1 and 2 were then showing simultaneously the same footage of the end of the Siege?

keicar · 17/04/13 - 20:59

Shrike wrote: »

Only one I can recall is the snooker final being interupted when the SAS stormed the Iranian embassy back in 1980.

Remember that vividly, I recall a dead casualty being carried away on a stretcher and his arm falling to the ground from under the covering blanket trailing on the ground, whilst the two carrying him stooped to avoid any crossfire.

jrmswfc · 17/04/13 - 21:16

I remember watching the Les Dawson Show on BBC1 on the evening of the Lockerbie disaster, but it wasn't interrupted, the news flash came on straight after the programme.

I also recall waiting to watch the football on Midweek Sports Special, which was never shown as the news broke that the (first) Gulf War had started.

mrsmoose · 17/04/13 - 21:19

When The Queen Mother died, the news interupted an outtakes show (Possibly Outtake tv). I remember watching it and for the first few seconds waiting for Hew Edwards to fall off his chair, not realising it was the actual news:o

Wallasey Saint · 17/04/13 - 21:23

jrmswfc wrote: »

I remember watching the Les Dawson Show on BBC1 on the evening of the Lockerbie disaster, but it wasn't interrupted, the news flash came on straight after the programme.

I also recall waiting to watch the football on Midweek Sports Special, which was never shown as the news broke that the (first) Gulf War had started.

Seem to remember Midweek Sports Special was shown, then broke off to cover the newsflash the Gulf War had started & ITV never went back to MSS either think it was highlights of a League Cup game, think it was the Quarter finals, as League Cup Finals were late March or early April in those days.

Verence · 17/04/13 - 21:26

Billy Hicks wrote: »

I remember BBC2 a few months later were showing a repeat of Steptoe & Son that faded out a few minutes in to break the news of the Queen Mother's death.

The episode in question was Men Of Letters with the Scrabble game and obscene crossword

lundavra · 17/04/13 - 22:27

Shrike wrote: »

Only one I can recall is the snooker final being interupted when the SAS stormed the Iranian embassy back in 1980.

I think all the other things like the IRA bombing Thatcher, 9/11, Princess Di, the attempted coup against Gorbachev I heard on the radio.

And the snooker fans moaned and moaned about it for ages!

The Brighton Bomb happened during the night so would have been reported on breakfast programmes. TV am had sent their people home so only had someone in the studio on the phone whilst BBC had live coverage from the scene.

Princess Diana's crash was late at night and initially came up on CEEFAX, I think BBC interrupted the film for a news bulletin but stopped the film soon afterwards but ITV did not stop their programme apart from a short news flash at the adverts. I think BBC1 went over to BBC World(?) and the poor overnight newsreader struggled until people arrived to help him out.

zooooooooooooo · 17/04/13 - 22:33

mrsmoose wrote: »

When The Queen Mother died, the news interupted an outtakes show (Possibly Outtake tv). I remember watching it and for the first few seconds waiting for Hew Edwards to fall off his chair, not realising it was the actual news:o

I remember thinking the same

ancient wolf · 17/04/13 - 22:35

I seem to remember that the League Cup game being shown was Leeds v Aston Villa

lundavra · 17/04/13 - 22:40

keicar wrote: »

Remember that vividly, I recall a dead casualty being carried away on a stretcher and his arm falling to the ground from under the covering blanket trailing on the ground, whilst the two carrying him stooped to avoid any crossfire.

That might have been the hostage that was murdered earlier, the body was dumped outside and triggered off the whole operation.

lundavra · 17/04/13 - 22:43

jrmswfc wrote: »

I remember watching the Les Dawson Show on BBC1 on the evening of the Lockerbie disaster, but it wasn't interrupted, the news flash came on straight after the programme.

I also recall waiting to watch the football on Midweek Sports Special, which was never shown as the news broke that the (first) Gulf War had started.

Reports on Lockerbie were confusing at first, I think it was reported as a large fire at a petrol station initially. It was sometime before the full scale was realised.

I seem to remember reading the BBC Scotland vehicles tagged onto the back of one of the police convoys heading down the A74 after after assembling at the motorway services.

Steven Oliver · 17/04/13 - 22:49

zooooooooooooo wrote: »

I remember thinking the same

It was an edition of Auntie's Bloomers which was faded out half-way through to break the news of the Queen Mother's death. Although Peter Sissons got a lot of quite undeserved stick that evening (much of it relating to his tie) at least the BBC were better prepared for it than IRN were that night - their Obit Alarm wasn't fired correctly which meant many stations didn't know what had happened until that evening's 6pm news bulletin,

WelshNige · 17/04/13 - 22:49

There was one time when the major news actually happened in the tv programme, when Tommy Cooper collapsed and died on stage during Live At The Palladium.

Steven Oliver · 17/04/13 - 22:57

WelshNige wrote: »

There was one time when the major news actually happened in the tv programme, when Tommy Cooper collapsed and died on stage during Live At The Palladium.

It was actually during Live From Her Majesty's that it happened - I remember watching it. He was nearing the end of his act and was about to go into his 'cloak' routine when he collapsed and then fell back against the curtains. The audience of course were roaring with laughter thinking that it was part of the act. When it became apparent that something was wrong they cut to the commercial break early.

If memory is correct it was the lead item on the 8.45pm news which followed the show, as his death had just been confirmed before the news went to air.

WelshNige · 17/04/13 - 23:03

Steven Oliver wrote: »

It was actually during Live From Her Majesty's that it happened - I remember watching it. He was nearing the end of his act and was about to go into his 'cloak' routine when he collapsed and then fell back against the curtains. The audience of course were roaring with laughter thinking that it was part of the act. When it became apparent that something was wrong they cut to the commercial break early.

If memory is correct it was the lead item on the 8.45pm news which followed the show, as his death had just been confirmed before the news went to air.

Sorry my mistake.

Yes I was watching it too when it happened, I remember laughing and then realising that something was wrong when he didn't move and they cut to an ad break.

Very sad.

WhiteShade · 17/04/13 - 23:22

I'm 23 so can't remember those events unfolding other than watching Diana's funeral & coming home one day in my first week of secondary school to the news off 9/11. I even think we had a minute's silence in our lesson that day.

I was at home bunking off school when the Beslan school siege happened. ITN's coverage was immaculate. Also I was off on 7/7 and the news broke on Lorraine.

Steven Oliver · 17/04/13 - 23:43

lundavra wrote: »

Reports on Lockerbie were confusing at first, I think it was reported as a large fire at a petrol station initially. It was sometime before the full scale was realised.

I seem to remember reading the BBC Scotland vehicles tagged onto the back of one of the police convoys heading down the A74 after after assembling at the motorway services.

In the Border TV area, a message was put out during the ad breaks on Des O'Connor Tonight asking for doctors and medics to report to Dumfries Infirmary urgently, as Lockerbie is in their coverage area.

Steven Oliver · 17/04/13 - 23:47

WelshNige wrote: »

Sorry my mistake.

Yes I was watching it too when it happened, I remember laughing and then realising that something was wrong when he didn't move and they cut to an ad break.

Very sad.

Same here. One other thing I recall was my dad going to the kitchen to put the kettle on after Live From Her Majesty's had finished, then my mum shouting him through when the news came on and it was announced that Tommy Cooper had died.

Eraserhead · 18/04/13 - 00:01

I had the TV on a cartoon channel for my son (who was 3 then) in 1997 when a caption came onscreen during a cartoon which read something like "Turn to your news channel for an important announcement".

We had no idea Diana had been in an accident and when we turned to Sky News it said that she had died. This was fairly early in the morning.

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Programmes that were on when major news broke

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