Weatherman accused of hangover as Shipping Forecast goes badly wrong

The BBC’s Shipping Forecast is such an iconic radio institution you could well imagine it still being broadcast in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust.

But weatherman Tomasz Schafernaker almost brought the whole thing crashing down for the first time in its 91-year history.

Poor old Tomasz failed to finish the forecast and had to hand over to newsreader Chris Aldridge after he spluttered his way through the round-up.

In fact, some fans even suggested he might be HUNGOVER!

Listeners to the 5.20am Radio 4 broadcast were treated to something like the following, with thanks to The Sun for the transcript.

“In north channel – fair, good. Mull of Kintyre to Ardnamurchan Point southerly (very long pause….) or south-easterly four or five (sobbing, groaning, heaving followed by deep swallow) increasing six at times, fair, good. Ardnamurchan Point to Cape Wrath southerly or southerly four or five (more chocking sounds, heaving, long pause as he exits.)”

Second presenter: “I do apologise, that was Tomasz Schafernaker. We will just complete the inshore waters forecast.”

37-year-old Tomasz later reassured fans he was “all good” in response to worried enquiries.

He does have a bit of history when it comes to on-air bloopers, too. He once forgot what Edinburgh was called during a BBC broadcast, and was also caught giving a colleague the finger on the BBC News channel.

The Shipping Forecast began waaaay back in 1911 and first aired on the BBC in 1925. Since then it’s only been stopped during the world wars in a bid to keep local weather conditions hidden from the enemy.

“They sometimes read the wrong one, but I’ve never heard the reader abandoning it,” forecast historian Nic Compton admitted.