BBC ONE Election coverage collapses

At shortly before 3am this morning the BBC One election coverage collapsed to a blank screen, followed by an apology card, followed by a cut to BBC News 24.

Also of note, the weather on BBC News 24 overan the end of the 3am countdown, the end of which was played over the weather.

Next, the headline graphic unfurlled itself 3 times and then the news began without a word from the presenter as to why they couldn't continue with their coverage of the election.

AFAIK News 24 is looped overnight now?

Mark.

this is very odd isnt it - not so much as a pre-recorded apology over the caption and not a mention of the problems from alistair yates.

poor.

Kinda makes me wonder if some form of evacuation is in progress? BBC2, 3, 4 and News 24 are all running on pre-records / loops afaik.

I'm completely in the dark; we are completely in the dark about what has happened. Like I said in the BBC ONE Cock-Up thread, I'm here waiting for an update.

Surely it can't be that difficult to get Alistair to explain, or something?

Nick Robinson's live blog (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/) says that a power cut has taken the programme off air, and indeed the whole Westminster area has lost power.

News 24 is definitely live - it's just going out on BBC World as well, hence the lack of apology from the newsreader.

Well it's clear what the headlines will be tommorow...
'Lights go out on labours reign'

heh

Well, what can I say...a large part of Westminster has gone down...!!?

I didn't see the exact moment of when the coverage ceased, looked up, saw the apology on-screen and figured something had gone a bit awry, but hadn't imagined anything as drastic as what has been mentioned.

When all else fails, go down the pub!

Ahh, 3:17 and we're back with the London regional opt out and the lovely Emily Matalis in the pub. I'd buy her a drink anyrime.............

From a Scottish perspective, it was slightly more erratic.

BBC News 24 was the choice of Scotland, there being little point in a regional opt-in.

Cut to black, then very very quickly the weather.

The over-run was brilliant, Eades' voice over the weather was excellent!

See, with all the fancy interactive studios, handing pieces of paper over to the presenter still shines through as foolproof!

Yay, they're back.

Thank goodness, even though, the autocue and software supporting the elections aren't ready, though, evidently

It's a beautiful day la,la,la. Now if only that had been a general election.

Don't see what all the fuss was about... the breakdown slide was only on for about 2 minutes! They did well to get something back so quickly.