BBC Breakfast makes amusing weather map blunder

Viewers pointed out the mishap on social media

BBC Breakfast experienced what appeared to be an amusing production blunder on Tuesday (4 April) during a weather segment.

At 8am, the news and current affairs series introduced presenter Carol Kirkwood, who issued a brief update on the weather forecast.

However, though she was discussing the weather in the UK, the map behind her was in fact an unlabelled image of Spain and Portugal.

“Good morning,” she began. “It’s a cold and frosty start to the day for many of us today. But there’s a fair bit of sunshine away from the north and west, where we’ve got thicker cloud and some rain.”

She went on to give a brief update on the weather for the Bank Holiday weekend, before teasing a more extensive weather report later in the programme – all while the map of Spain remained unchanged behind her.

The mishap didn’t escape the notice of BBC Breakfast viewers, who shared their amusement on social media.

During the later weather segment, the map used to illustrate the weather had been changed to the correct one.

In December, it was reported that BBC News were set to replace its on-air cameras following a number of unrelated technical gaffes.

Carol Kirkwood speaking in front of a map of Spain (BBC)

Across the past decade, numerous clips have gone viral in which news broadcasts cut to empty chairs unexpectedy. Other clips feature cameras shifting away from presenters unexpectedly, or zooming in and out without reason.

The errors are said to be the result of an unintentional disconnect between pre-programmed camera movements and the live action in the studio.

The BBC has itself seen the funny side of live TV blunders. Last year, the broadcaster shared a compilation of particularly memorable BBC News gaffes, titled “100 Seconds of BBC News Going Wrong”.