ITV News is evacuated live on air in fire alert

ITV News presenters were forced to evacuate live on air last night after a fire alarm went off during the ten o’clock news.

As news reader Tom Bradby introduced a segment on the US-North Korea rift, the faint sound of a fire alarm could be heard in the background.

The pre-recorded report was played to camera, as planned, which drowned out the noise.

But when Mr Bradby returned at about 10.20pm, the alarm was much louder.

He said: ‘I’m really, really sorry about this but I’m afraid we have to evacuate the building.

‘I really apologise, we’ll get back to you with the rest of the programme if we possibly can, but for now it’s goodnight.’

The broadcast was then replaced with a notice which read: ‘We’re sorry for the disruption. We’re working hard to fix the issue and will return to normal programming soon.’

Later, Laura Brander, head of communications for ITV News, wrote on Twitter: ‘Can confirm thankfully it was a false alarm.’