BBC Radio 4 temporarily drops off air during Today Programme

“You may be able to hear we have a little alarm going on here,” broadcaster Nick Robinson told listeners as the sound continued in the background.

His fellow presenter, Martha Kearney, said that they would try to “carry on for a little bit” before a loud alarm started whirring. “Well, maybe it’s going to be quite hard to carry on with this alarm going on in the background,” she said, adding that she once had to leave the building during a show due to a fire.

Robinson introduced a pre-recorded report as the alarm continued whirring in the background and then the broadcast dropped off air until 7:55am.

Robinson tweeted a picture of himself and Martha Kearney to confirm staff were back inside the studio, alongside the caption: "Well that was interesting. Emergency over. If there was one… we’re now back in the studio.”

Kearney then returned on air and announced: “As the world news fades down, Nick and I are back in the studio.”

Robinson went on: "Despite that noise you may have heard saying there was an emergency, as far as we can tell there wasn't actually an emergency. We have to follow procedures and we did, and we were outside in the cold for a little while but we are relieved to be back on the Today programme.

"Normal service is being resumed."

Kearney then moved on to the regular segment, Thought for the Day, and the normal broadcast resumed.

The alarm also disrupted output on the BBC’s World Service, as well as BBC Sounds, with the mobile app having difficulties playing live shows this morning.

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