BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine said it was the first time he’d had to evacuate the building in ’20 years’ as he returned to the airwaves after having to stand on the streets of London with his team

BBC Radio 2 was in chaos this afternoon as Jeremy Vine’s radio show was forced to evacuate for around 15 minutes.

A fire alarm went off and everyone in the studio was forced to evacuate the Broadcasting House building by Oxford Street in central London, making the presenter choose to cancel a segment on cremation. BBC Radio 6 Music were also briefly impacted by the fire alarm

Mid conversation with a guest, a voice spoke out from speakers in the studio, telling staff to ‘leave the building immediately’. Jeremy apologised for the inconvenience before playing music. The music lasted for almost 20 minutes before he returned to explain what happened.

He said live on radio: “It’s BBC Radio 2. Jeremy Vine here. I do apologise, we did just have a proper fire alarm here. There wasn’t a fire but we had the thing that I’ve not had in 20 years where not just one light goes off but two.

Jeremy Vine had to leave the studio because of an alarm ( 
Image:
Stephanie Schaerer/Daily Mail/REX/Shutterstock)

“The orange light which means there could be a fire and then the red light and then the announcement in the studio which looked as if there was one. We came out the building. We stood outside in the sun. There’s no fire. We came back in. Because there is no fire we are going to cancel the item we were doing on cremation.”

Before continuing with his radio show, he joked with a guest: “It was a very impressive evacuation by the BBC, we have got to take it seriously.” Fans listening to the radio show quickly rushed to social media to share their shock at the sudden evacuation from the studio.

One user said on X/Twitter: “Fire alarm goes off at the studios of BBC Radio 2 during The Jeremy Vine Show. The building was evaluated for the first time in 20 years according to Jeremy Vine,” while another posted: “Wow.. Actual dead air live on BBC Radio 2.. Fire alarm goes off at the studios during Jeremy Vine slot and the building’s been evacuated by the guess of it.. Never heard a radio station go silent like that before and now it seems like it’s on auto-pilot..”

One concerned fan added: “@BBCRadio2 streaming music whilst off air live.. fire alarm went off according to Jeremy Vine hope all safe!” and another posted: “This is peak Jeremy Vine no notes.”