BBC apologises for Breakfast F-bomb (VIDEO)

BBC apologises for Breakfast F-bomb (VIDEO) (Image credit: PA)

The BBC has apologised after an off-screen voice turned the air blue on BBC One's Breakfast show. Viewers heard a disembodied voice exclaim 'What the **** is that?' at the start of an item during the TV programme this morning. Presenter Susanna Reid was introducing conductor John Wilson as a guest on the show when the gaffe occurred. The foul-mouthed outburst became a popular talking point online as users sent messages about the slip on Twitter. The BBC said a microphone had been left on outside the studio which picked up the four-letter word. A spokeswoman said: "During the programme this morning, we accidentally played out not-for-broadcast audio containing an audible swear word. The error was caused by a radio microphone inadvertently being left on outside our studio. "Our presenters apologised on air as soon as the mistake was identified and we are reviewing our procedures accordingly." Breakfast has previously had to apologise for broadcasting swear words when an uncensored tape of actor Christian Bale letting fly with a torrent of abuse was mistakenly aired. Dame Helen Mirren and film director Nicolas Winding Refn have also used bad language on the programme.

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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.