Jeremy Vine’s BBC Radio 2 interrupted by fire alarm at London's Broadcasting House, forcing evacuation

While speaking to a caller live on air, Vine had to break off mid-conversation to announce the emergency. “I’ve just been told there’s a fire or a fire alarm, so I’m going to play some music. I apologise, this hasn’t happened in 20 years. Let’s play some music and leave the building,” he said before playing Gary Numan’s Are ‘Friends’ Electric?.

The disruption also affected Lauren Laverne’s Radio 6 Music program, which experienced 30 seconds of silence before a backup song was played.

After 15 minutes off air, Vine returned to update listeners. “I do apologise, we had a proper fire alarm there,” he explained. “It wasn't a fire but we had the thing which I haven't had in 20 years where not just one light goes off but two. You get the orange which means there could be a fire and then we had the full red light and announcement in the studio, which looked as if there was one.”

Vine also revealed that, as a result of the disruption, they had decided to cancel a planned segment on cremation. “We came out the building, we stood outside in the sun, there’s no fire,” he said. “We came back in because there is no fire, we are going to cancel the item we were doing on cremation.”

Laverne also addressed the incident on her show, reassuring listeners: “Thank you all for the messages, everything is alright in the studio. We had some technical issues there but we are back with you.”