Toddlers interrupt live home interviews on BBC, Sky News: ‘Mummy, what’s his name?’

Live interviews on the BBC and Sky News were briefly interrupted Wednesday when children of the guests wandered on screen to talk with their parents, prompting each clip to go viral.

The first of the two interruptions came when Clare Wenham, a professor of global health policy at the London School of Economics, was being asked about local coronavirus lockdowns in England when her daughter Scarlett appeared in the background attempting to find the perfect spot to hang a photo of a unicorn.

BBC anchor Christian Fraser quickly pivoted to make light of the situation.

“Scarlett, I think it looks better on the lower shelf, and it’s a lovely unicorn,” Fraser said.

“Mummy, what’s his name?” Scarlett later asked of Fraser as her mother attempted to keep her quiet.

The video in the tweet on BBC’s official Twitter account had more than 320,000 views as of Wednesday afternoon.

“Mummy what’s his name?”

Dr Clare Wenham, we understand your struggles of working from home and looking after children https://t.co/vXb15EQatL pic.twitter.com/4f3PODtJWA

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) July 1, 2020

Minutes later on Sky News, the channel’s foreign affairs editor, Deborah Haynes, was interrupted by her son requesting biscuits as a snack.

A relatively unfazed Haynes told him he could have two as the interview was cut short.

The video has been viewed more than 1.3 million times on Sky’s official Twitter account.

ABSOLUTE SCENES ON SKY NEWS pic.twitter.com/EkdJTinkTW

— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) July 1, 2020

Thank you for the lovely comments after my son’s impromptu appearance mid-live-broadcast. I can confirm that his high-stakes negotiating skills netted him two chocolate digestives https://t.co/OQRGiMNih2

— Deborah Haynes (@haynesdeborah) July 1, 2020

The videos were reminiscent of a BBC home interview in 2017, when professor Robert E. Kelly was interrupted by his two children while he was discussing developments in North Korea. His wife quickly removed the kids from the room while Kelly kept his cool. 

That video has been viewed more than 39 million times on the BBC’s YouTube channel.