BBC Dad, meet BBC Mom: Two more cute kids crash live on-air interviews
Working from home is difficult.
Video screenshot by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper / CNET
British children are sure to know how to liven up a televised moment of parental work. On Wednesday Dr. Clare Wenham, assistant professor of global health policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science, in an interview on the BBC News Channel about local coronavirus locks when her little daughter Scarlett decided to get involved.
Scarlett had a framed unicorn picture she wanted to put on a bookshelf and she needed her mother’s opinion on where to go, turned up in front of the camera, and climbed over Mama’s desk. BBC journalist Christian Fraser, himself a father, accepted it. He asked for Scarlett’s name, introduced himself when she asked, and even considered the all-important question of the interior.
“Scarlett, I think it looks best on the bottom shelf,” said Fraser. “And it’s a nice unicorn.”
Social media seemed to be enjoying the break from serious news. “Absolute scenes on the BBC News Channel,” tweeted television critic Scott Bryan.
Broadcaster Lauren Laverne saw a career for Scarlett and wrote, “Watch again and wonder if unicorn placement updates could be a potential half-hourly bulletin on my @ bbc6music show.”
Re-watching and asking if unicorn placement updates could be a potential half hour bulletin on my @ bbc6music show
– Lauren Laverne (@laurenlaverne), July 1, 2020
And Wenham replied, “Interior design with Scarlett. I can make that happen.”
Interior design with Scarlett. I can make that happen.
– Clare Wenham (@clarewenham), July 1, 2020
Scarlett wasn’t even the only child breaker that day. A similar event happened when Sky News editor-in-chief Deborah Haynes tried to talk about the recent changes to Hong Kong law and asked her little son about cookies (cookies for Americans).
Haynes later tweeted: “Thank you for the nice comments after my son’s spontaneous appearance in the middle of the live broadcast. I can confirm that his negotiating skills earned him two chocolate digestifs.”
Thank you for the nice comments after my son’s spontaneous appearance in the middle of the live broadcast. I can confirm that his negotiating skills earned him two chocolate digestive products https://t.co/OQRGiMNih2
– Deborah Haynes (@haynesdeborah) July 1, 2020
Scarlett is not the first child in a BBC interview to steal the show. Professor Robert Kelly was nicknamed “BBC Dad” in 2017 when his two children joined the Skype interview he had with the BBC. First, 4-year-old daughter Marion strolled in, followed by 8-month-old James in his Rolling Walker. Finally, Kelly’s wife Jung-a Kim desperately yanked the children back. The family remembered their viral fame earlier this year.
Kelly even weighed on Wednesday and prevailed against the inevitable conspiracy theorists.
“I am amazed that so many people still think we faked the BBC Dad incident,” tweeted Kelly. “We do not have.”
