Top 10 Live Weather Forecast Bloopers
Welcome to WatchMojoUK, and today we're looking at the funniest BBC Weather bloopers to happen live on air.
#10: The Perils of Technology
These days, you'd struggle to get younger people to believe that once, weather forecasts were all done with pen and paper graphics. The transition took some adjusting to, even for weather veteran Carol Kirkwood. She was telling the audience what the weather maps used to look like versus the flashy, 3D graphics the BBC uses now, but her clicker seemed to get stuck. She was trapped on the wrong screen and, though we could see her clicking to try and move on, it just didn't seem to work. That's the kind of thing that would never happen if you have a big sheet of paper with rain clouds drawn all over it!
#9: Dog on the Beach
More from Carol, this time she was presenting live from West Wittering during a spell of hot weather. She was there on rather a grimy British beach, but the beach was about to get even grimier when somebody's dog wandered into frame. She was trying to finish her segment and hand the link back to the studio when the dog squatted down and did its business right behind her. Laughter could be heard from the “BBC Breakfast” sofa as Charlie Stayt advised Carol to ignore the dog. But perhaps most worryingly of all, no owner appeared to clean up the mess! Hopefully, they were just waiting for the cameras to switch off.
#8: Helen Willetts Walks Off
Moving on to Helen Willetts, she got through her entire weather forecast no problem, though she did seem to be struggling to focus a bit near the end. Unfortunately, she misjudged when the camera was going to cut and walked off way too early. She pulls a face, walks away, and scolds herself, and it's not clear exactly what was going on. For our money, it looks as if she had a cold and was going to sneeze, or that her nose might have been a bit itchy. Walking away early to do a sneeze makes sense, though, and we can't really blame her for this incident since nobody wants to do a huge sneeze live on telly.
#7: Town Name
Carol returns one last time for another classic moment where she was again at odds with her own clicker. While giving the forecast, a list of locations comes up behind her, all of them saying “Town Name” and giving the temperature as 99 degrees Celsius. Obviously, this is a mistake, and the graphics haven't been completed yet. Though she briefly steps in the way, Carol realises that it's HER mistake, and the clicker goes back and removes Town Name from the screen. She apologised and Bill Turnbull styled it out, making the joke everybody was thinking about Town Name's scorching weather.
#6: Edinburgh
Now it's time for a different weather veteran, Tomasz Schafernaker, losing control during a routine forecast. What set him off was forgetting which city Jane Hill had linked him from, with a producer in the gallery quickly clearing it up. He composed himself briefly, but then he had to give the forecast for Scotland. Seeing “Edinburgh” there on the screen got him going again, and he briefly struggled. And then it came up one last time when we got the run-down of the temperatures in the UK's four capitals, with Edinburgh right there at the top. He just about made it through.
#5: Prince Charles
He's the King now, but back in 2012 when he stepped in to read the forecast, he was still Prince of Wales. But it wasn't a standard reading of the forecast from the teleprompter, because somebody at the Beeb had a sense of humour about the whole thing, and gave him a script with a bunch of jokes. The map had various royal estates added to it so that we could see what the weather in Dumfries House and Balmoral was going to be. The King joked about his disdain for the script, clearly expecting it was just going to be a normal forecast. He also wasn't all that great at reading the prompter quickly, either.
#4: Peter Kay
Not once, but twice has he done this, both times tormenting Dianne Oxberry on BBC North West Tonight. He was seen crawling into frame so that he could invade the screen and have a go at presenting the weather himself. Both times, it was a scorcher, and we wonder if it was any cooler inside the studio. She gave him a crash course in reading from the big screen and which graphics showed the sun and which were showing the wind speed and wind direction. He did it a second time the following year, though at least, hearing that Kay was back on the show, Dianne was probably expecting him to cause more chaos.
#3: Giggle Fit
It was Louise Lear who lost it this time, unable to keep her composure when Simon McCoy handed over to her for the forecast. Despite strong winds and rains across Scotland and Ireland and a looming storm, she just couldn't stop laughing. She did just about manage to get through it, though, which is impressive; we've all been in situations where we just can't stop laughing even though it isn't the right time, and it's one of the last things you want to happen while you're broadcasting live. We only wish we knew what had set her off.
#2: Michael Fish Gets It Wrong
We didn't know at the time that Fish had made an immense blunder, but hindsight is 20-20. In this classic segment, a woman rang in to say that she was concerned about the worsening weather, prompting Fish to say that it wasn't anything to worry about. That was the day of the Great Storm of 1987, a cyclone that struck western Europe that October. It did billions of pounds of damage and, tragically, killed two dozen people in the UK and France. The storm absolutely devastated the country, and Fish has never lived the mistake down. He bizarrely redid his infamous weather forecast and gave the correct predictions as part of a promotion for a seafood restaurant in Brixton in 2012.
#1: Schafernaker's Finger
Another, far more iconic Schafernaker moment was, of course, when he flipped off the camera during a forecast. Though he tried to cover it up, we all saw what he did, and he was clearly mortified. He wasn't gesturing to the viewers at home, though; this was all aimed at Simon McCoy, who'd just handed over to him for the forecast and joked that his predictions weren't all that accurate. The BBC quickly apologised for the lack of professionalism in the newsroom, but this would eventually happen again – and not during the weather. In December 2023, BBC News presenter Maryam Moshiri was broadcast doing exactly the same thing. Whoops!
Let us know in the comments which BBC weather presenter is your favourite.
Top 10 Live Weather Forecast Bloopers
Welcome to WatchMojoUK, and today we’re looking at the funniest BBC Weather bloopers to happen live on air.
#10: The Perils of Technology
These days, you’d struggle to get younger people to believe that once, weather forecasts were all done with pen and paper graphics. The transition took some adjusting to, even for weather veteran Carol Kirkwood. She was telling the audience what the weather maps used to look like versus the flashy, 3D graphics the BBC uses now, but her clicker seemed to get stuck. She was trapped on the wrong screen and, though we could see her clicking to try and move on, it just didn’t seem to work. That’s the kind of thing that would never happen if you have a big sheet of paper with rain clouds drawn all over it!
#9: Dog on the Beach
More from Carol, this time she was presenting live from West Wittering during a spell of hot weather. She was there on rather a grimy British beach, but the beach was about to get even grimier when somebody’s dog wandered into frame. She was trying to finish her segment and hand the link back to the studio when the dog squatted down and did its business right behind her. Laughter could be heard from the “BBC Breakfast” sofa as Charlie Stayt advised Carol to ignore the dog. But perhaps most worryingly of all, no owner appeared to clean up the mess! Hopefully, they were just waiting for the cameras to switch off.
#8: Helen Willetts Walks Off
Moving on to Helen Willetts, she got through her entire weather forecast no problem, though she did seem to be struggling to focus a bit near the end. Unfortunately, she misjudged when the camera was going to cut and walked off way too early. She pulls a face, walks away, and scolds herself, and it’s not clear exactly what was going on. For our money, it looks as if she had a cold and was going to sneeze, or that her nose might have been a bit itchy. Walking away early to do a sneeze makes sense, though, and we can’t really blame her for this incident since nobody wants to do a huge sneeze live on telly.
#7: Town Name
Carol returns one last time for another classic moment where she was again at odds with her own clicker. While giving the forecast, a list of locations comes up behind her, all of them saying “Town Name” and giving the temperature as 99 degrees Celsius. Obviously, this is a mistake, and the graphics haven’t been completed yet. Though she briefly steps in the way, Carol realises that it’s HER mistake, and the clicker goes back and removes Town Name from the screen. She apologised and Bill Turnbull styled it out, making the joke everybody was thinking about Town Name’s scorching weather.
#6: Edinburgh
Now it’s time for a different weather veteran, Tomasz Schafernaker, losing control during a routine forecast. What set him off was forgetting which city Jane Hill had linked him from, with a producer in the gallery quickly clearing it up. He composed himself briefly, but then he had to give the forecast for Scotland. Seeing “Edinburgh” there on the screen got him going again, and he briefly struggled. And then it came up one last time when we got the run-down of the temperatures in the UK’s four capitals, with Edinburgh right there at the top. He just about made it through.
#5: Prince Charles
He’s the King now, but back in 2012 when he stepped in to read the forecast, he was still Prince of Wales. But it wasn’t a standard reading of the forecast from the teleprompter, because somebody at the Beeb had a sense of humour about the whole thing, and gave him a script with a bunch of jokes. The map had various royal estates added to it so that we could see what the weather in Dumfries House and Balmoral was going to be. The King joked about his disdain for the script, clearly expecting it was just going to be a normal forecast. He also wasn’t all that great at reading the prompter quickly, either.
#4: Peter Kay
Not once, but twice has he done this, both times tormenting Dianne Oxberry on BBC North West Tonight. He was seen crawling into frame so that he could invade the screen and have a go at presenting the weather himself. Both times, it was a scorcher, and we wonder if it was any cooler inside the studio. She gave him a crash course in reading from the big screen and which graphics showed the sun and which were showing the wind speed and wind direction. He did it a second time the following year, though at least, hearing that Kay was back on the show, Dianne was probably expecting him to cause more chaos.
#3: Giggle Fit
It was Louise Lear who lost it this time, unable to keep her composure when Simon McCoy handed over to her for the forecast. Despite strong winds and rains across Scotland and Ireland and a looming storm, she just couldn’t stop laughing. She did just about manage to get through it, though, which is impressive; we’ve all been in situations where we just can’t stop laughing even though it isn’t the right time, and it’s one of the last things you want to happen while you’re broadcasting live. We only wish we knew what had set her off.
#2: Michael Fish Gets It Wrong
We didn’t know at the time that Fish had made an immense blunder, but hindsight is 20-20. In this classic segment, a woman rang in to say that she was concerned about the worsening weather, prompting Fish to say that it wasn’t anything to worry about. That was the day of the Great Storm of 1987, a cyclone that struck western Europe that October. It did billions of pounds of damage and, tragically, killed two dozen people in the UK and France. The storm absolutely devastated the country, and Fish has never lived the mistake down. He bizarrely redid his infamous weather forecast and gave the correct predictions as part of a promotion for a seafood restaurant in Brixton in 2012.
#1: Schafernaker’s Finger
Another, far more iconic Schafernaker moment was, of course, when he flipped off the camera during a forecast. Though he tried to cover it up, we all saw what he did, and he was clearly mortified. He wasn’t gesturing to the viewers at home, though; this was all aimed at Simon McCoy, who’d just handed over to him for the forecast and joked that his predictions weren’t all that accurate. The BBC quickly apologised for the lack of professionalism in the newsroom, but this would eventually happen again – and not during the weather. In December 2023, BBC News presenter Maryam Moshiri was broadcast doing exactly the same thing. Whoops!
Let us know in the comments which BBC weather presenter is your favourite.
