Nicholas Witchell shocked viewers on Monday when he appeared to lose his concentration twice during a live broadcast about the new royal baby.
The veteran BBC News presenter stumbled over his words and struggled to collect his thoughts as he tried to give an update about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s newborn.
The royal correspondent, who is 65, was in the middle of a live piece to camera outside Buckingham Palace in London when he stumbled over his words and looked confused before apologising.
The usually professional anchor’s odd behavior - which ended with him passing back to his colleague the studio - has led some people to fear for his health.
Thankfully it is nothing serious - Paul Royall, the editor of BBC News At Six and Ten, has taken to Twitter to explain the reason behind his colleague’s unusual behaviour.
He tweeted: For those asking about Nick Witchell - he’s absolutely fine. Highly unusually for Nick he lost his train of thought on the #BBCNewsTen and decided to hand back to the studio.
“This can happen sometimes even to the most experienced and respected in busy live news broadcasting.”
While viewers were relieved it was nothing more sinister, some spoke of their frustration at the BBC that someone with Nicholas’ journalistic experience had been left outside the palace for hours to fill air time with mundane royal baby commentary.
One tweeted: “You guys need to think about why journalists have to stand outside empty buildings in unseasonably cold weather when we out here know it's all a silly charade.”
A second said: “He lost his train of thought because there was nothing more to think about. If there’s 20 seconds of news, don’t allocate a 2-minute slot; that just leads to mindless waffle.”
A third added: “Perhaps even he had endured enough of the nonsense.”
Others sent their best wishes to Nicolas.
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One said: “Glad he's ok, Nick Witchell is one of my favourite Royal correspondents and does a damn fine job.”
A second said: “Good to hear, it was a bit alarming to watch!”
Another posted: “Glad he’s ok - I was concerned.”
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