Jeremy Vine has apologised to BBC Radio 2 listeners after having to leave his programme due to a fire alarm going off.
The TV and radio presenter was forced off air during his lunchtime programme today. A voice saying "Please leave the building immediately" could be heard in the background as Vine informed his listeners that everyone at the BBC Broadcasting House in central London was being evacuated.
"I've just been told that we have a fire, or there's a fire alarm, so I'm gonna play some music and I do apologise, this hasn't happened in 20 years," Vine said.
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"Let's just play some music and we're going to have to leave the building," he continued.
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Vine's announcement was followed by a 30-second silence after he played the song 'Are 'Friends' Electric?' by Gary Numan, then a music playlist began. Lauren Laverne's Radio 6 Music programme had a 30-second silence as well.
After 'Can't Stop The Feeling!' by Justin Timberlake played, Vine returned on air, saying: "It's BBC Radio 2, Jeremy Vine here, well I do apologise we actually had a proper fire alarm there."
"It wasn't a fire, but we had the thing, I've not had this in 20 years, where not just one light goes off but two," he added, explaining that both an orange and a red light signalled there was a real fire.
"So you get the orange light, which means there could be a fire and then we had the full red light and the announcement in the studio, which looked as if there was one," he said.
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Luckily, it seems that there was no fire in the BBC building once everyone had been evacuated.
"We came out the building, we stood outside in the sun, there's no fire, we came back in," Vine said.
Commenting on the incident, a spokesperson for the BBC said (via The Standard): "The fire alarm went off briefly in one area of Broadcasting House. After the appropriate checks, staff returned back in 10 minutes later."
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy.
Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).
