Awkward live TV moments
Last updated: November 10, 2025
There's something proper British about how we deal with awkward telly. We don't just put up with it – we actually go looking for it, watch it over and over, and talk on about it for years down the pub.
When weathermen attack
In 2010, BBC weatherman Tomasz Schafernaker flipped the bird at news presenter Simon McCoy after McCoy jokingly said his forecast would be "100 per cent accurate and provide all the detail you could possibly want." Schafernaker had no idea he was on camera, and when he cottoned on, the look of absolute horror on his face has been watched more than 5.5 million times on YouTube. He had a go at playing it off like he was just scratching his chin, but it was too late – everyone saw it. McCoy's deadpan "there's always one mistake" as they cut back to the studio was the perfect British response to chaos unfolding live.
EastEnders and the curse of live 2eek
Under EastEnders live 30th anniversary episode. Jo Joyner slipped up in a way she'll probably never live down. She'd returned as Tanya Branning after nearly two years off the show. In a scene with her character's best mate, she asked "How's Adam?" – completely forgetting to say "How's Ian?" It was a proper slip-up. She'd called Ian Beale by Adam Woodyatt's actual name. The kind of blunder that becomes soap legend.
The sheer panic on both their faces was absolute telly magic. Joyner said afterwards she was properly haunted by it, and didn't even need to watch it back because "people were sending me pictures of my face in shock every day on Twitter." #HowsAdam was trending all over the country, and five years on people were still going on about it.
This morning's greatest hits
This Morning's given us more awkward moments than you could possibly count, but what Gino D'Acampo came out with in 2010 is the stuff of legend. Holly Willoughby said something harmless about his Italian dish – wasn't it just carbonara with some ham thrown in? – and Gino absolutely went off: "If my grandmother had wheels, she would have been a bike." Phil and Holly just crumbled, couldn't stop laughing, and that clip? It's still all over social media every month without fail.
Why we love those moment
Look, these moments matter because they prove live telly is actually happening right there and then. Everything's so polished these days. Every photo filtered, every video edited within an inch of its life. So when someone properly messes up on national television, it's almost a relief. That's why we remember them forever – they're real people having real disasters, and we can't look away. And honestly? That's really good entertainment.
