Good Morning Britain was forced off air on Monday morning after a fire alarm triggered an evacuation of the studio. The incident occurred shortly before 9.40am, causing the programme to end earlier than planned and pushing This Morning to start 20 minutes ahead of schedule.
Presenters Susanna Reid and Ed Balls were hosting the ITV show when an unscheduled alarm prompted the team to leave the set. Following an advert break, the Good Morning Britain logo appeared on screen instead of the programme resuming, leaving viewers briefly confused.
This Morning hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard then appeared on the sofa, with Cat laughing as she explained the situation. 'There was an alarm going off in the GMB studio,' she told viewers. 'So, we're here early! Everybody is up, Gyles is over there just reading over his notes...'
A Good Morning Britain spokesman confirmed the disruption, saying: 'Due to an unscheduled fire alarm at the Good Morning Britain studio this morning, our team had to leave the set temporarily. While they were able to re-enter the building shortly afterwards, the programme had to end earlier than planned.'
The spokesman added: 'We apologise to viewers for the disruption, with thanks to the This Morning team for appearing on air 20 minutes ahead of schedule.' The early start saw the This Morning team fill the gap with content including a segment on The Traitors star Stephen celebrating 200 years of tweed.
This Morning returned to its regular schedule at 10.00am, with the rest of the day's programming unaffected. The evacuation comes amid a wider ITV schedule shake-up, which from Monday sees Good Morning Britain extended to run from 6am to 10am, followed by This Morning until 12.30pm.
