No news is good news.
Huw Edwards was left sitting in silence for two minutes at the start of Tuesday’s BBC News At Ten.
A technical fault meant that BBC One went off air immediately before the news was due to be screened and an on screen apology appeared in its place.
At the same time, many noticed a live broadcast of Edwards – sitting in the studio waiting for the problem to be fixed – was being beamed to viewers of the Beeb’s news channel.
Predictably, the error caused plenty of confusion amongst those watching it.
https://twitter.com/TheCavendishEst/status/877413550691672065
This is compelling TV. Huw Edwards chilling, whilst BBC is broke, but he live on TV. 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/aC1Iab48fS
— Noogie (@noog1e) June 21, 2017
The marvellous Huw Edwards still waiting on word that the Conservatives have formed a government 🤔pic.twitter.com/QMjfZJDTGx
— Wow+Flutter 🐳 (@Wow_Flutter) June 21, 2017
Always enjoy watching Huw Edwards, such a great professional, even when #bbcnewsten goes full meltdown. Tks @huwbbc!pic.twitter.com/Rx7jzO32M5
— 𝐉.𝐍. 𝐏𝐀𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐓 🖊️ (@jnpaquet) June 20, 2017
Paul Royall, a programme editor, explained that the BBC had experiences a ‘technical system crash’ shortly before the news had been due to air and that a director had been forced to switch to a back-up system as a result.
FYI technical system crash seconds before 10. Director had to switch to a back-up system ASAP. @huwbbc doing great job #BBCNewsTen
— Paul Royall (@paulroyall) June 20, 2017
He, like many of those watching on in bemusement, managed to praise Edwards for remaining calm and professional.
In light of this amazing work , the famous slogan should always now be "Keep Calm and Huw Edwards" #bbcnewsten https://t.co/yucClx2AdU
— Vanessa Motion (@vanessamotion) June 21, 2017
Huw Edwards ha ha what a legend
— Daniel Hall (@DHsDailyThink) June 20, 2017
https://twitter.com/tommygundon/status/877274239652573188
After the News At Ten (or ‘News At Just After Ten’) had been broadcast, Edwards tweeted that he’d be having a celebratory beer.
https://twitter.com/huwbbc/status/877282074398531584
Well deserved.