The biggest disasters in the history of live TV

On the one hand, cute kids with talent are ratings gold. But then again, on the other, they’re in no way equipped to deal with the massive pressure of a prime-time audience, Cowell and Holden, you MONSTERS. 10-year-old Hollie Steel struggled with the words of ‘Edelweiss’ in the 2009 semi-final and burst into tears, pleading to be able to start again. Happy now?

It was during a segment from the Royal Tournament in 1988 for short-lived children’s magazine show 'UP2U’ that Anthea Turner had a run-in with a motorbike. Sitting on the tailgate of a lorry, the bike shot out of the back, sparks briefly setting her hair alight. She suffered burns and temporary hearing loss, and successfully sued the BBC.

He was only expecting a job interview. Not an 'interview’ interview. Guy Goma was mistaken for tech journalist Guy Kewney in reception at Television Centre, and whisked up to the BBC News 24 studio to discuss the Apple computers court case with Beatles label Apple Corps. He answered the questions gamely, but it was quite the blunder. He attended his job interview after being on TV. Sadly, he was not hired.

It was all fun and games on celeb quiz show 'Public Enemy Number One’. With host Bobby Davro in the stocks (for some reason), and Lionel Blair having pulled down his trousers, his humiliation was complete when he lost balance and face-planted into the show’s shiny floor. As Cheggers wails 'Oh Bobby!’, an embarrassed Blair and Jim Bowen look on. Davro broke his nose. Though the incident was recorded live, it was not televised. It was later used in BBC safety videos.

Thanks to the clanging of a 23-ton bell, Macca missed his cue to start 'Hey Jude’, so the backing track kicked in at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics in 2012. “I f**ked up,” he later admitted. It’s OK, Paul, it was only in front of about 900 million viewers around the world.

What could be safer than your fiancee firing a flaming arrow at a target in your mouth from up a step ladder? Stuntman Ryan Stock found out, when his missus AmberLynn did just that, missing the target and thwacking him in the chest. “I’m OK. We had a malfunction with the equipment, but I got out lucky,” he said. Officially the understatement of the year.

“Hope this is going to go well,” said Zoe Ball, introducing, for reasons unknown, a live link-up with One Direction to celebrate the new series of Doctor Who. For three agonising minutes, Ball, Niall, Louis and Matt Smith spoke over each other because of an unworkable time delay, while John Hurt looked on unimpressed and Steven Moffatt held his head in his hands. So did we, Steve.