This Morning viewers were left perplexed on Friday morning, when the show briefly went off air.
During the live broadcast, presenters Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary cut to an ad break, only for the show to not return.
Instead, ITV aired a series of pre-recorded travel segments, along with a message that read: “We are sorry for the disruption to your schedule. We will return to normal programming as soon as we can.”
As viewers on X (formerly Twitter) speculated about what was going on, a post from the show’s official account stated: “Apologies for the technical issues, we’ll be back with you as soon as possible!”
Eventually, the show returned as normal, with Alison telling viewers: “Welcome back to This Morning, we do apologise, we’ve been having a few gremlins in the system and we are sorting it, aren’t we?”
Always an optimist Dermot then said that at least viewers had “three lovely films” to enjoy while This Morning was off the air, joking that guest Gyles Brandreth had gone “backstage to fiddle with a couple of buttons just so we could have a nice little lie down”.
“When I am on, my wife turns the sound down,” Gyles then joked, to which Dermot replied: “She was probably loving it! Wonderful! J’accuse Mrs Brandreth!”
“I love live TV,” Alison then added.
HuffPost UK has contacted ITV for additional comment.
While Alison and Dermot still front This Morning on Fridays, the show has been without a permanent presenting team since Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby’s much-publicised exits last year.
Rumours in the tabloid press have claimed that a replacement pair have now been chosen – although ITV has remained tight-lipped on the speculation, with additional reports claiming an announcement is coming next month.
This Morning airs every weekday from 10am on ITV1.