BBC Breakfast viewers have been flocking to social media to complain as the show was interrupted to allow time for an on-air apology.
In Saturday’s broadcast (November 30) a weather glitch that occurred weeks ago was finally addressed, which saw hurricane-force winds forecast in error on the Weather app. Meanwhile, a separate mistake saw a duplicate weather report broadcast twice across two days.
During Breakfast’s Newswatch segment, host Samira Ahmed played a message from one disgruntled viewer who called out the duplication issue and urged the to “do much better than that.”
She was joined on the show by Adam Bullimore, the senior news editor at Weather.
“Can you explain why Sunday’s weather was repeated on Monday as we showed at the start of the programme?” Samira asked.
BBC Breakfast hosts Naga and Charlie threw to Newswatch to hear the apology (Image: BBC )
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With a deep sigh, Adam said “I can”, adding: “It’s a short explanation, it’s simply that the news channel played out a recording of Sunday’s weather on Monday and it was a transmission error and we’re sorry about that.”
Samira interjected, asking: “Would it normally have been live?”, prompting Adam to reveal that the weather broadcasts are usually pre-recorded an hour before they’re shown on-screen.
Addressing the incorrect forecast of hurricane winds, Adam explained: “What happened was there was a software glitch with our data supplier and that sent through these unreliable readings through to our weather services.”
Adam Bullimore explained what went wrong (Image: BBC)
“It did take nearly 24 hours before things got back to normal and we very much regret that but since that incident we’ve been working closely with our provider to improve our processes and make sure nothing like that is going to happen again.”
“We do very much regret that incident and apologise for it.”
Not all viewers were impressed by the thorough apology however. Many flocked to social media to make their opinions known.
“What a load of weather Karens”, complained one viewer, as another jumped to the defence of the BBCwriting: “I think the bbc weather is the best and the presenters are great.”
“My contempt for Newswatch grows by the day. To think the tv licence is increasing next year. What an absolute disgrace,” fumed another. Meanwhile one watcher quipped: “The weather was much more understandable when they had stick-on clouds and suns.”
Breakfast airs daily from 6am on One