Oops. “Maybe minor Royals”
Even Peter Overton & Tracy Grimshaw were hard-pressed to recognise a new British PM.
- Published by David Knox
- on
She’s not long into the job but even Nine’s Peter Overton and Tracy Grimshaw were hard-pressed to identify new UK Prime Minister Liz Truss and husband Hugh O’Leary entering Westminster Abbey.
“Who’s this?” asked Grimshaw.
“Hard to identify, maybe minor royals… I can’t identify them,” said Overton.
“We can’t spot everyone unfortunately”, said Grimshaw. “They look like they could well be local dignitaries. It’s hard to see, we’re looking at the backs of their heads mostly.”
Overton swiftly clarified, “I’m just told that was Liz Truss, the new Prime Minister, in the distance that we could see.”
The gaffe has lead to headlines in international press.
Australian presenters Peter Overton and Tracy Grimshaw unable to identify UK PM Liz Truss. pic.twitter.com/uG0eQPqBqN
— Shahryar Sultan (@Shahryar_Sultan) September 19, 2022
Despite the gaffe Nine News boss sent a congrtulatory note to all of their staff on the ground in the UK.
“The team has been broadcasting to Australia since 5am yesterday morning. They’ve only had very short breaks for sleep – if they got any at all. That’s a spell of almost 30 hours,” he noted.
“Our News team that produced yesterday and last night’s continuous coverage – producers and studio crew – came on-air at 12pm Sydney time and finished in the early hours of this morning after a 14-hour session.
“You guys are awesome.”
Wick thanked Nine’s London and Foreign desks adding, “Now, everyone, please get some sleep.”
We were relying on a video feed for live stream of arrivals. At times the video would freeze so we’d turn around to try to catch a glimpse. I do know what British PM, Liz Truss looks like.The back of her hat,not so much! @9NewsSyd
— Peter Overton (@PeterOverton) September 20, 2022
Share
- Tagged with Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, Nine News
8 Responses
Its a bit embarrassing when it makes it to The late show
Put your manners back in Peter .
I was watching when this happened…..pretty harsh reaction. They were watching from afar, and obviously couldn’t see the monitors on what we could see – Karl and Ally really should have been commentating, as they were watching the monitors. I think News Corp made it into a bigger thing…surprise surprise
I opted not to file it until I had seen the footage, but it’s a fair criticism.
I just find it funny. As Pertinax says there will be mistakes in such a long broadcast and they wouldn’t have the same level of notes as they would for something like the Olympics Opening / Closing Ceremonies.
And the BBC commentators didn’t know who Anthony Albanese was.
Happens in both countries.
Well to be fair, apparently the BBC didn’t identify Anthony Albanese during their broadcast when he arrived.
There were hundreds of such gaffes in 10 days of continuous coverage. At one point a a BBC commentator said George V was the Queen’s father. Anyone talking for hours is going to make mistakes, especially with live crosses where people are going to be distracted. The BBC spotted Arden and Trudeau straight away but they have been in power for years. Albanese had not been in power for long, and he was standing in the group behind, obscured by other people, I didn’t spot him at first. I’d only seen Truss from her swearing in and a previous reading and didn’t recognise her immediately, especially with all the women wearing similar expensive black dresses and hats.