What's the worst thing you have ever witnessed first-hand happen on live tv?

[MyCheeryPearlTraybake]

For me it would have to be Christian Eriksson collapsing at the euros in 2021

@growinguptobreakingdown I too was shocked/upset during that documentary.

I still can’t believe it and that the programme went ahead.

I remember that. The photos of those 2 men were in the papers the next days. I was young at the time and I still to this day will
Never forget how sick it made me feel.

@Dustyblue Oh, Port Arthur 😥

The ongoing genocide of Palestine

Most of what people have said are not things I watched live, but which I did see footage of close to the time. I am with you, I think it was seeing Eriksson (as far as I knew) die on the pitch. I remember the cameras were on him for so long, and the look on everyone's faces. And his poor wife.

When Mateta took a horrible kick to the head in the Millwall match recently (thankfully was ok) I thought it was happening all over again.

All of the above. Dunblane was the first I was old enough to recall, and I was working in NYC the summer of 9/11 so it felt frighteningly close to home for me.

The publicised horror of the Isis beheadings really impacted me. I was heavily pregnant at the time and terrified for what my DD was being born into. My heart ached for the poor families of those who lost their lives, and those whose fates remained uncertain.

In person the death of my own child, closely followed by the death of a young man. I was a young student, our with friends when a group of young men burst out of a pub and stumbled into us brawling. One lad hit the other in the face and he fell at our feet, his head hitting those bumps they have on the floor near pedestrian crossings. His eyes rolled back in his head and he had a small fit followed by nothing. It seemed to take forever for the emergency services to arrive. 24 years later I still can’t get the image of the blood out of my mind. Poor lad.

9/11

George Floyd being murdered around 5 years ago. The police officers would have got away with it if it wasn't for it being filmed by passers by who helplessly looked on. Not sure I watched it live though but that footage is horrific.

9/11

The genocide in Gaza happening right now.

Pretty sure you didn't watch that live, no. Would be a bit odd to switch on ITV and see random Minneapolis police stops being live broadcast

9/11
Hillsborough
Bradford City fire
Challenger Shuttle explosion

Nikki Lauda crashing & getting burned.
I can't remember who it was but I saw a formula 3 car flip lengthways several times at Donnington & the driver was killed & a sidecar passenger get killed after he got thrown off & hit by another pair who were seconds behind & couldn't avoid him, both in the late 80's. My dad's boss had hospitality units there & we went nearly every weekend.

Challenger shuttle explosion.

There was a bit of a gap between the planes hitting. I was watching the first tower with smoke coming out of it as someone had switched a TV on in a meeting room at work and then the second plane hit. Up until then, as people have already mentioned, we thought it was just a little plane that had crashed into the WTC by mistake. It was such an unbelievably shocking moment when we realised it was an attack.

Yes same, we all saw it live as it happened.

Grenfell towers was also awful.

There was a bit of a gap between the planes hitting.

Yes, I remember the confusion and then the realisation by everyone it was deliberate. I was watching TV at uni (supposed to be studying) & either the show was interrupted or the news had come on. It was all focused on the first plane and then the second plane hit.

Lee Rigbys murder really shocked me. I'm
not sure if the aftermath was live on tv but everything was very graphic without any warnings.

Also I remember the morning after the Manchester arena bombing , Olivia Campbells mum was on GMB panicked and distraught because she had no idea what had happened to her daughter. The poor woman. ❤️

Like so many others 9/11, I worked for a company with clients in the twin towers. Everyone went to the TVs in the meeting rooms once the news reports started coming in, watching it unfold was so upsetting.

7/7 bombings was also something I’ll never forget, arriving at work in central London and everyone’s phones going off… Then watching the news and seeing the aftermath of the attacks. I was 6mths pregnant and had to walk home, the streets were so quiet with everyone silently marching for hours.

Quite a large amount of things being listed on this thread weren't seen to actually happen live on TV. It's the reported aftermath of the incidents (often immediate aftermath) that's shown, or a recording of the actual incident. Unexpected incidents that occur whilst live streaming something else aren't that common.

9/11 is unusual because, whilst the first plane hitting wasn't shown live on TV, the second plane hitting and the towers collapsing where unintentionally broadcast live during the reporting of the aftermath of the first plane.

In reality public or sporting events are the most likely way something shocking will start to happen live.

Cut out see it start live on TV bit and there's a huge amount of disaster and human suffering witnessed on TV. Famine, genocide, war, bombings, fire, mass murder, earthquakes to name a few.

The challenger explosion still makes me feel sick, I was a child in school when it was broadcast live. I still to this day can't bring my self to watch any take offs.
So many children around the world must have been affected the same way I am.

Oh my god, yes!

Omayra
Challenger
Heysel

I had the book as well as watching it on TV. I don't remember worrying too much about Birdie though at the time. Much worse was Tom Kitten being wrapped in pastry which I'm glad was never filmed.

Not tv but social media.

i was scrolling through FB when i saw a post about Alesha McPhail’s murder. Stopped to read the comments and saw “that’s my daughter, what’s happened” or something along those lines. It was only one sentence, but the panic, fear and desperation leapt from the screen.

that’s how that poor mum found out.

That’s absolutely harrowing. Social media has a lot to answer for sometimes and I really wish people wouldn’t idly pick over terrible events as if they were entertainment.

I know I shouldn't find this thread fascinating, but I do. Not being from the UK, some of the people, names and places of (UK based) incidents I have never heard, I have around 12 tabs open with google searches of things listed in this thread. I have spent almost hour reading about the Bradford stadium fire and saw the video someone posted. Completely mesmerised (in a shocked way). I really enjoy documentaries about real life disasters crime. Many thanks to the OP for such an informative thread.