Advertisement

Audience member 'collapses' on BBC Question Time, forcing programme to end 20 minutes early

BBC Question Time
BBC Question Time

Question time was cut short on Thursday night after an audience member required emergency treatment after collapsing on the front row.

The BBC programme was halted after 40 minutes when the woman, who appeared to fall to the floor in front of the panel, required an ambulance and first aid.

A member of the audience in attendance at Colchester town hall  claimed that the woman appeared to have fallen from her seat and “collapsed on the floor”.

They added that an ambulance had been called and that she was attended to by paramedics.

However, after determining that it was not safe to move her, producers decided to bring the programme to a close ahead of schedule.  

David explains why our show tonight was shorter than usual.

From all of us on Question Time - goodnight #bbcqtpic.twitter.com/1T07IR7PjO

— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) November 23, 2017

Following the incident, presenter David Dimbleby ended the programme with an address to viewers watching on television. 

He said: "An audience member was taken ill and could not be safely removed, so we had to bring the programme to a close. My apologies for this curtailed edition of Question Time."

A spokesman for BBC Question Time later released a statement, which said: “An audience member on tonight’s QT was taken ill. Our first priority was to make sure that she was looked after by medical staff who attended. As a consequence tonight’s Question Time was slightly shorter than billed.”

The panel, which featured business secretary Greg Clark and shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, had already been asked “what is the point of capitalism?” and whether the Budget could fix the broken housing market.