The One Show's 20th anniversary special was disrupted minutes after starting by a Government emergency alert about wildfires. The BBC chat show was just beginning an extended hour-long anniversary special when hosts Alex Jones and Roman Kemp were drowned out by an alarm.
While introducing the segments set to air across the episode, Kemp was explaining how former host Christine Lampard was returning to the studio when the alarm could be heard on the broadcast. Kemp pushed through and kept speaking, while Jones shook her head and raised her hands, before saying: "You couldn’t make that up could you. Is that a fire alarm?"
Hosts react to the alert
Kemp then faced someone off camera and asked: "Is there some sort of fire alarm?" They both said "We continue," before running through the rest of the segment introductions until the alarm cut out and Kemp said: "Ok, it’s stopped."
The noise was an emergency alert sent to the phones of people across England and Wales to warn communities about the growing threat posed by wildfires. The alert, sent on a rolling basis from 7pm, warned people not to light anything that could spark a fire, including barbecues, campfires, and fireworks. Recipients were also urged to report any fire immediately by calling 999.
Later disruption
Following the airing of a segment, Kemp told viewers: "As you will probably be aware that was actually a wildfire alert on everyone’s phones. You would have heard it on the opening of our show, but as always we hope everyone is staying safe, of course."
Later in the show, presenters Clara Amfo and Angellica Bell also faced disruption when an ambulance drove past with sirens on while they presented a segment outside, nearly drowning them out for about 15 seconds.
Celebrating 20 years
The episode celebrated the long-running show, speaking to former presenters, guests, and people assisted by the programme. While being reunited with some people she helped in past episodes, Bell broke down in tears, with Jones declaring: "Angellica doesn’t cry often, so that’s a result!"
The episode also looked back at celebrity interviews and past musical performances from artists including Harry Styles, Elton John, Olivia Dean, Stormzy, and Take That. Wrapping up the show, Jones shared a message with viewers, thanking the team, guests, co-hosts, and viewers at home. The episode ended with a performance from Tom Grennan.
