A power cut at ITV's Covent Garden studio forced Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women off air on Wednesday morning, with Good Morning Britain hosts Ed Balls and Susanna Reid stepping in to fill the extra airtime.
GMB hosts announce the power cut live
Good Morning Britain presenters Ed Balls and Susanna Reid were back on screens on Wednesday (November 4) to deliver the day's major headlines from throughout the UK and beyond. Further into the programme, the duo revealed a scheduling adjustment following a power failure at ITV's central London studios.
Susanna said: "We'd normally find out what Lorraine's got in store for us this morning." Ed then noted that "an event has occurred", before Susanna added: "A power cut at her studio. Lorraine is not on air today."
She went on: "But we're here till 10 o'clock!" Ed joked to his co-star: "That is such good news! Another half hour with you!" Susanna added: "Let's hope the production team have got plenty to fill the space! I don't know why everybody's laughing!"
Viewers see a blank screen during the break
The presenter then proceeded with the day's top stories, as she confirmed: "It is nine o'clock, and we are with you for another hour. The power never goes off in this studio." GMB subsequently cut to a commercial break, though no advertisements appeared. Rather, numerous watchers encountered a blank display with the ITV logo emblazoned across it.
It wasn't long before supporters began voicing their bewilderment. "What's going on? ? ?" one person asked on X. Another added: "I have never seen this loading screen before," while a third said: "Somethings afoot here." Someone else echoed the sentiment, saying: "Is it just ITV that has power cuts or is it the whole of London?"
As the ITV show made its return to screens, Susanna offered an apology for the technical blunder. She said: "We do have to say sorry to some of our viewers who have been affected by technical issues during our ad break. Frankly, who knows what might happen between now and 10! It's a kind of rollercoaster, isn't it?"
Lorraine Kelly confirms the outage on Instagram
This follows Lorraine Kelly taking to Instagram to reveal that her show would be pulled from air owing to the outage. Lorraine filmed a video while travelling in to work, with the caption reading: "These things happen. Can't be helped."
In the clip, she said: "Hello there! I'm on my way to work, but there's been a bit of a hoo-ha. There is a power outage at the studio, so my show won't be on today. But you can still watch GMB, and they're going to fix it around about 11 o'clock ish, so This Morning will still be on as well, just a little bit later."
"So, it's a bit of a shame. I was really looking forward to talking to Sharleen Spiteri from Texas, but we shall reschedule and all will be fine. And I will see you tomorrow. Okay, bye!"
ITV's daytime shows notably moved from their West London base following broadcaster cuts at the start of the year. GMB now airs from ITV's main headquarters, while Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women all operate out of a shared studio in Covent Garden, London.
A statement has since been issued by ITV saying: "Following a power cut overnight in the wider area where our Covent Garden studio is based, we are unable to broadcast Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women live today. We will return to normal schedule as soon as possible."
