Why people are watching a year-old Claudia Winkleman interview about Halloween

The video, which has been viewed more than five million times, warns how flamable children's Halloween costumes can be

Winkleman was interviewed in May about her daughter's accident (BBC, via screenshot)

A year-old interview with Claudia Winkleman in which she talks about the moment her daughter was severely burnt when her Halloween costume caught fire has gone viral.

The television presenter’s then eight-year-old daughter Matilda received third-degree burns over much of her body after her witch’s costume caught fire from a candle in a pumpkin last year.

In the video, viewed more than five million times, Winkleman warns parents about the dangers of costumes ahead of Halloween in a week’s time.

“I don’t want another eight-year-old to go through what Tilda went through. I don’t want this to happen. I just think next Halloween, even if I stop a few people going, oh let’s not put them in that next to a naked flame. That would be amazing.”

Claudia Winkleman's interview with Chris

The full interview with Claudia Winkleman from last night's Watchdog. She relives the moment her daughter Matilda's Halloween dress went up in flames.

Posted by BBC Watchdog on Friday, May 15, 2015

Winkleman, who presents Strictly Come Dancing, described her daughter “screaming, all the kids were screaming.”

“I had never seen anything like it,” she said. “We couldn’t put her out. Her tights had melted into her skin. … She went up, is the only way I know how to describe it.”

“Her surgeon described it as an attack… because of the intensity of it [the flames].”

Britons spend roughly £150million every year on Halloween costumes, but investigations have revealed many children’s costumes are dangerously flammable.

A leading burns expert said the current safety standards for children's costumes should be revised. “They [fires] are relatively rare but when they do occur they are very devastating,” Ken Dunn told the BBC.