BBC apologises after World Snooker Championship coverage suddenly stops

Callum Vurley
Thu, 30 Apr 2026 19:21:37 +0000

Snooker fans found themselves watching sheep instead of shots this evening as BBC's coverage of the World Championship semi-final hit an unexpected snag.

The broadcaster was forced to abandon its live feed from the Crucible during the clash between Mark Allen and Chinese 22-year-old Wu Yize after a power issue struck the Sheffield venue.

Viewers tuning in for the third frame were left bewildered when their screens suddenly froze, cutting to an error message before switching to wildlife programme Britain's Wild Isles.

Rather than watching Wu line up his next pot, fans were treated to footage of ewes grazing on screen.

The pictures vanished at 19:51 and stayed off air for roughly 12 minutes, leaving fans frustrated at missing the conclusion of the third frame.

Coverage eventually came back on BBC iPlayer and TNT, though BBC Two viewers had to wait a bit longer before their screens flickered back to life.

By the time the broadcast resumed, Allen had already pocketed the frame, pulling the score back to 2-1 against his young opponent.

The Northern Irishman had been 31-0 ahead and preparing to take a shot when everything went dark, so viewers never got to see how he closed it out.

Presenter Hazel Irvine offered an apology when the broadcast finally returned, delivering it with a touch of humour.

"Welcome back to Sheffield and our apologies for the interruption to our evening at the Crucible in this second semi-final," she said. "We had a rather unexpected power issue. Nothing to do with not feeding the meter I assure you."

She added: "So we lost power but Mark Allen did not. He took frame three to get his semifinal campaign under way."

One fan couldn't resist poking fun at the evening's drama, joking: "The break in BBC Two's snooker transmission is bigger than most of the players have managed."