10 Scariest Things Caught on Live TV News

10 Scariest Things Caught on Live TV News

Caitlin Johnson

Welcome to WatchMojoUK, and in todays unranked list were looking at the most frightening and disturbing things to have been broadcast on the news.

The Southern Television Broadcast Hijack

Were beginning with something a little sillier before we get into more serious subject matter, but it may still have frightened you if youd been watching ITN in 1977 and witnessed this. During a live news report, somebody managed to hijack Southern Televisions signal and broadcast a message claiming to be an alien. This was possible because the transmitters were barely protected, but the culprit was never caught. While its funny in hindsight to hear someone with an English accent announce that theyre a friendly alien in the early evening, a lot of people at the time were disturbed and worried by what theyd seen on TV. To this day, a handful of people still think it really could have been an alien visitor.

The 2007 Floods

Huge areas of the UK were covered in water in 2007 when we were struck by some of the worst floods on record. More of the UK was affected by the rain than wasnt, including London and other major cities, with multiple rivers bursting their banks. It was harrowing to watch the water rising on the news, as cars and buildings became consumed by water. The RAF was enlisted to air evacuate people who got stranded by the floodwater, which is dangerous because of the potential for contamination, as was the Army. There were years of inquiries about why local authorities had such poor flood defences and why the government response hadnt been better.

The Iranian Embassy Siege

For six days, the world watched as a hostage situation unfolded in the middle of London. Half a dozen gunmen took over twenty people hostage on the 30th of April, 1980, and then, days later, the SAS raided the compound. The British government refused to meet the demands of the gunmen and sent in specialist soldiers, and the raid ended up being broadcast on live television on the 5th of May. People saw them abseil down and saw them throw in grenades. Five of the six gunmen were killed by the SAS, with one being arrested. Its believed that that final gunman would have been killed, too, had a soldier not decided against it because of the optics of this happening on live TV.

The Westminster Bridge Attack

The attack itself wasnt broadcast live because it was over in under two minutes, but helicopters soon swarmed the scene on Westminster Bridge to provide aerial coverage, with people terrified that their loved ones were caught up in the incident. Months later, though, and we got more insight, because the TV documentary series Hospital was filming at St Marys Hospital in London at the time, and captured the entire NHS response. While rolling coverage was keeping everybody glued to their sets, doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff were working around the clock to create enough capacity for the victims. Five people died, including PC Keith Palmer, and other police officers eliminated the attacker.

John Gummer

For years, the BSE crisis grew quietly, with more and more cows mysteriously affected with a fatal illness. But by 1990, it became clear that BSE could spread between species if infected meat was eaten. To prove otherwise, though, John Gummer and his young daughter Cordelia appeared on television eating burgers made of British beef. Cordelia was, thankfully, fine, but a lot of other people werent, because as we all know now, BSE DID make the jump to humans, causing a disease called variant CJD. It wasnt until 1997 that an inquiry was launched, years after millions of cattle were culled. Its chilling to watch this news footage now, knowing that the risk was very real.

7/7

The initial three blasts that went off on the London Underground during the 7/7 attacks in 2005 werent seen live, but about an hour later, a fourth bomb went off on a bus in Tavistock Square. It wasnt until this happened that it became clear that the incident was a coordinated attack and not some kind of power surge, as was previously believed when there was no information. 52 people died, with surviving passengers filmed as they flooded the streets, having walked along the tracks to escape the tube tunnels in the aftermath. Thankfully, there were no other attacks that day, but after the fourth device was detonated, people lived in fear that a fifth could strike as they watched the non-stop media coverage.

2024 Riots

For days in 2024, riots raged across the UK following widespread misinformation about the devastating Southport killings. The public was wrongly told that the killer was a Muslim asylum seeker, though he was actually raised by Christian parents and was born in Cardiff. Violence raged, with police and innocent people attacked in the streets, with over a thousand ultimately arrested. Twitter, now X, became rife for circulating misinformation and fuelling the violence, which was being broadcast as it happened. Some news reporters said they were fearing for their lives while watching the riots unfold. Its a miracle that nobody died, though over a hundred police officers were injured.

Grenfell Tower

For almost three days in 2017, Grenfell Tower, a highrise in Kensington, burned, with 24/7 news coverage of the devastating fire. 72 people died, with a further 74 injured, in a blaze that began due to a faulty appliance. The fire was made significantly more dangerous because the building was lined with flammable cladding and didnt have adequate sprinklers or fire alarms, despite residents warning authorities for months that something needed to be done. In the end, all the country could do was watch in horror as the disaster unfolded. Investigations and inquiries to try and determine exactly who is to blame remain ongoing nearly a decade later.

Airstrikes

Weve all gotten far too used to seeing and hearing things like this on the news, with the ongoing wars in both Ukraine and Gaza. Its now commonplace to be watching live video or even a live television news report from one of these war-torn regions, and then witness people duck and cover as a bomb or a missile emerges. In one particularly harrowing incident on American networks, a doctor in a hospital in Gaza was being interviewed when missiles began to fall. She was asked if she needed to go and find a bomb shelter somewhere, and chillingly responded by telling the anchor that there are no bomb shelters in Gaza.

Albert Dryden

This shocking incident was all broadcast live in 1991, as the BBC turned up to report on an ongoing dispute and stand-off with a local man named Albert Dryden. Dryden had been building on his property without planning permission, but rather than listen to the council and, later, the police, and tear the building down, he armed himself and threatened police with explosive devices. Using an old revolver, Dryden shot local planning officer Harry Collinson point-blank. He died and everybody else fled, with a police officer and BBC journalist also getting shot, but non-lethally. Dryden was eventually tackled and sentenced to life imprisonment, with the entire crime caught on camera.

Did you see any of these live? Share your memories if so.