Simon McCoy taps his watch as BBC News opens with an empty studio: 'I think it's still afternoon!'

Simon McCoy was left checking his watch as BBC News panned into the studio to show an empty newsdesk instead of the anchor.

The broadcaster, known for his hilarious commentaries and takes, started the Afternoon Live show on Monday from a different position to usual – but nobody seemed to have told the camera man.

After the show's opening credits rolled, the camera zoomed in to show the studio without an anchor sitting at the newsdesk before quickly panning around to find McCoy.

McCoy mockingly tapped his watch, trying hard not to laugh, before greeting viewers and joking that he thought it was "still afternoon."

He moved swiftly on to the top story on the Conservative Leadership Contest, moving into a broadcast about Matt Hancock backing Boris Johnson and the Channel 4 debates.

The little blip didn’t go unnoticed on Twitter, with one user grabbing the clip to share online. “Oh no not again,” the user wrote alongside.

Others joked that they had “one job” while another laughed that it was “embarrassing”, prompting McCoy to reply saying that he “wasn’t embarrassed”. He then quipped that he “doubted” it would be the first blooper of the 2019 reel.

McCoy often leaves fans in hysterics with his broadcasts, most recently going viral for an on-screen rant about dog puns.

The presenter was left aghast as he reported on the Scottish Parliament Dog of the Year competition.

He read: “Fur one day only, Holyrood has gone to the dogs for the Scottish Parliament’s Dog of the year contest. Here are the competitors, battling it out to become top dog – well that is a familiar phrase.

“In a positively tough field, the Scotty dogs had to take on a number of obstacles outside the Scottish Parliament – some faring a bit better than others.”

McCoy announced Jeremy Balfour and his pet as the winners before revealing that the story ended with the line: “A ruff day for everyone else.”

As the segment ended, the veteran journalist put his head in his hands before muttering “I trained for this” as the broadcast moved on.