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What media moment has shocked you the most?

142 replies

GlassLightShade · 10/07/2025 19:00

Just wondering what media moment has stuck with you or genuinely shocked you the most?
Mine was watching Jade Goody, a 27-year-old mum of two, being told she had cancer on television. I still remember it vividly — it felt so raw and personal. I couldn’t believe they aired something so heartbreaking, and it’s always stayed with me. Though I must have watched it on the news as I believe it was the Indian Big Brother?
What about you? Was there a news story, reality show moment, interview, or anything else that really shook you?

OP posts:
elliejjtiny · 11/07/2025 00:47

A girl at my school died at Zeebrugge. It was before my time but there was a trophy named after her.

The murder of James Bulger was the earliest shocking moment i remember.

Also Princess Diana dying and there being flowers everywhere outside the palace. I remember feeling so sorry for Prince William (can't remember if Prince Harry had to do it too) having to walk around accepting flowers from people in the crowd who were visibly upset about his mother dying when they didn't know her. I am the same age as Prince William and that was the first time i realised that being a royal is not as fun as i thought it would be.

SemperIdem · 11/07/2025 00:54

Steelworks · 10/07/2025 19:09

9/11 is the obvious one. Can still vividly remember seeing it on tv, and in particular the bright blue sky.

Regarding shocking, what jumps to mind is the tv series Spooks, where they killed off a leading character in one of the first few episodes in a graphic way. I complained to the BBC about it (I know that’s fiction, but it jumped to mind).

I think I know the exact scene you mean. I was about 12 watching that and it remains one of the most shocking things I’ve seen on screen. I say that as someone who has watched all manner of horror/gore films.

ilovepixie · 11/07/2025 00:54

Yorkshire ripper murders
Hillsborough
Challenger Space Shuttle
Herald of free enterprise sinking
Berlin wall coming down
Nelson Mandella free
Princess Diana dying
9/11

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DoNotIron · 11/07/2025 01:09

Loads already mentioned, but the earliest most shocking media moment for me was hearing about the La Mon Hotel bombing in Belfast. I was 10 and still can’t believe I was allowed to watch the very graphic news coverage. There were other incidents just as shocking and brutal, some with a higher death toll, but that one haunted me.

Frostiesflakes · 11/07/2025 01:18

Steelworks · 10/07/2025 19:09

9/11 is the obvious one. Can still vividly remember seeing it on tv, and in particular the bright blue sky.

Regarding shocking, what jumps to mind is the tv series Spooks, where they killed off a leading character in one of the first few episodes in a graphic way. I complained to the BBC about it (I know that’s fiction, but it jumped to mind).

Oh the one where they put her in a deep fat fryer and then shot her
( big spooks fan 😂)
and when the guy was killed at the end it reminded me of how Princess Di died in the tunnel with a bike and car probably causing the accident
i miss watching Spooks

bluecurtains14 · 11/07/2025 01:19

ErlingHaalandsManBun · 10/07/2025 19:12

Other than the obvious 9/11 and Princess Diana's death, the very first one I recall as a kid was the Space Shuttle Challenger exploding shortly after it was launched. Many people were watching it live on TV when it happened and it obviously killed all 7 people aboard.

I was just thinking that. Christa McAuliffe's kids were watching.

Frostiesflakes · 11/07/2025 01:27

for these I remember where and what I was doing

James Bulger. Pregnant with my son

9/11. Just got up and had the tv on in the background and it was just there on the tv like a disaster movie only - only it wasn’t

Princess Di rolled in after a night out with my mates and we were up chatting shit with the tv on in the background and it came on that she had been in a car crash and had died

Jelline · 11/07/2025 01:34

Grenfell (I grew up in a high rise) and some ISIS stuff. 9/11 barely registered as I was on holiday and not keeping up with news. Princess Di was fascinating rather than shocking, just watching the reaction by society and media but I didn't respond emotionally at all.

AcrossthePond55 · 11/07/2025 01:42

It was footage of an injured person aired live during the immediate aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing. I still see it occasionally in my mind, just a quick flash of memory.

I won't describe it as it was too horrible (and I have a very strong stomach). I'm sure it was unintentionally aired in the confusion of live shots because when they showed that particular scene later on during extended coverage the few seconds that showed that poor person had been cut.

StarCourt · 11/07/2025 01:46

The Black Panther and Lesley Whittle, I was 10, then a few years later the Yorkshire Ripper.

StarCourt · 11/07/2025 01:48

Oh and the Birmingham Pub bombings. My dad was due to to a job interview that evening in the Rotunda, the building above the Mulberry Bush pub.

MarxistMags · 11/07/2025 02:19

They pushed her head, face first, in the Deep Fat Fryer. Thank god it was fiction.

Dunblane for me, probably because I'm Scottish. I watched the Mothers and Dads terrified and helpless faces as they raced to the school disregarding Police and Press.
I've never seen that footage again. Just more sanitised versions.

Nat6999 · 11/07/2025 04:28

Hillsborough, I'm from Sheffield & a Wednesday supporter, I knew people who had gone & bought tickets from touts & had to climb up into the seating above the pens.

9/11 watching the planes go into the towers, knowing how many people were aboard & deliberately killed, then watching the rescue attempts, people jumping & the towers collapsing.

Lockerbie, seeing the newsflash & watching the coverage the day after.

Grenfell, It was on the news as I was getting ds off to school, I ended up watching it right through the day.

Borough Markets attack I saw the news flash across the screen & watched all of the aftermath.

Manchester Arena bombing, it flashed across the screen & turned on the news, that night I was thankful that ds was home & safe, he was the age that would have wanted to go to the concert.

Happyher · 11/07/2025 06:35

TenaciousDeeds · 11/07/2025 00:24

Yes, most affluent Southerners had no idea what immigration had done to areas they weren’t aware of. My DH voted to leave (he told me years later).

I’m a northerner and certainly not affluent and have been aware of immigration in my community since the 60s

Guavafish1 · 11/07/2025 06:38

Nothing..TV is rubbish

spoonbillstretford · 11/07/2025 06:42

Happyher · 11/07/2025 06:35

I’m a northerner and certainly not affluent and have been aware of immigration in my community since the 60s

Voting to leave the EU to control our borders and immigration. How's that going for you?

leccybill · 11/07/2025 06:49

Manchester Arena bombing - I was idly scrolling through twitter, can recall myself saying to DH 'something's happening in Manchester'
My daughter's friend was there and some of my pupils too. It was just a terrible time.

Grenfell - in the same week, or close wasn't it? I remember those kids turning up for their Maths GCSE the next morning after they'd lost everything. As a teacher, that stuck with me.

Raul Moat - I was watching it unfold on TV while on mat leave with a newborn, just felt vulnerable.
The Chilean miners rescue - uncontrollable crying as they brought them back up alive.

jay55 · 11/07/2025 07:00

The first one was the challenger disaster, we’d been doing a project on space to tie in with it for months, and then watched as a class of 7 and 8 year olds crammed in to the TV room and boom it blows up. I don’t think I realised at that age that people died.

Happyher · 11/07/2025 07:00

spoonbillstretford · 11/07/2025 06:42

Voting to leave the EU to control our borders and immigration. How's that going for you?

I voted to remain.

Headfullofbees · 11/07/2025 08:41

When a man who insighted riots, has been found liable for sexual abuse, commited fraud against businesses and universities, mishandled national documents etc etc was still re-elected to be one of the most powerful humans in the world.

Not that there are many politicians with clean hands, but the lists against this one seemed particularly astounding.

Phoebesparrow · 11/07/2025 08:42

Hillsborough

It's one that feels close to home,even though we didn't live anywhere near it

I grew up in a big city and my aunt,uncle (who is a snobby arsehole,think an arsehole version of hyacinth bucket) and cousin lived in a village just outside it

Anyway,about 10 days before Hillsborough,we where walking to school when my brother suddenly says 'mum,that's uncle dickheads car'

'Don't be daft'

'I'm telling you,that is uncle dickheads car'

My mother got home and rang aunt who says that uncle dickheads car had been stolen in the night-it had been dumped in a tiny side street just off our street (it was sheer luck that it had been dumped there and that bro saw it)

Police called,uncle dickhead gets his car back undamaged and said that as a thank you,he'll take brother to a footie match that was happening in a few days

(I was slightly pissed off as it was my birthday that day but it didn't matter too much as I wasn't having my party for another few days)

The day before,my mother phones uncle dickhead who denies ever saying anything about a football match,he hated football and wouldn't be seen dead anywhere near a pitch as football was 'way too common' he wasn't taking bro anywhere and put the phone down on her

My mother was fuming-ive never seen her so angry,bro was upset but not that bothered as he wasn't a massive fan of football but had wanted to go for the experience

I remember walking into the living room the next day and found my mother glued to the tv,sobbing her eyes out

Hillsborough was the match uncle dickhead was planning to take bro

(I stand by the fact that if uncle dickhead had taken bro,the first sign of any issues,he would have been 'all men for himself',as he is a selfish prat and bro would have been left to fend for himself,thankfully my aunt saw the light and left him in the end)

The gods where smiling on bro that day (or at least the day before)

Rip to all that died that day

Willwetalk · 11/07/2025 10:40

Steelworks · 10/07/2025 19:09

9/11 is the obvious one. Can still vividly remember seeing it on tv, and in particular the bright blue sky.

Regarding shocking, what jumps to mind is the tv series Spooks, where they killed off a leading character in one of the first few episodes in a graphic way. I complained to the BBC about it (I know that’s fiction, but it jumped to mind).

Was that the deep fat fryer? I happened to turn over and caught the end of that one. Put me off watching any other episodes.

VanilleFraise · 11/07/2025 10:46

For me it's the execution of the ceausescu's (Romanian dictators). Christmas day 1989 - sentenced to death and the sentence carried out there and then. I do know that in Romania it was shown live.

GameOfJones · 11/07/2025 10:54

Lots of mine have already been mentioned as those moments where you remember exactly where you were when you saw or heard the news e.g. 9/11, Princess Diana, 7/7.

The most recent one that really shocked me was the Titan Sub. I remember hearing that it was missing and the horror of that imagery and thinking how the hell does that happen? Then the wait which must have been horrendous for the families and then the news that it had imploded. Just awful and so preventable.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 11/07/2025 11:06

ShamrockShenanigans · 10/07/2025 19:05

Waking up one morning to find Princess Diana had been killed in a car crash.

This. I had set the alarm for around 4 am, since had to pick a dd up from Gatwick, v early flight. It was on the R4/World Service news as I woke. Drove all the way to Gatwick with news on, hardly able to believe it.

At the airport new arrivals were walking around in a sort of daze, asking whether it was true. Of course the early edition newspapers hadn’t yet heard.

Later 😱 moment - we still took the Mail in those days - saw a bitchy article by a female journalist absolutely slagging Diana off! How must she have felt? Not that I had any sympathy!

The family dd had been away with all came back to ours, I cooked a massive breakfast and we were all glued to the TV for hours.

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