Face of Nation : After the programme’s introduction, the cameras panned into the studio before lingering on Mr McCoy’s chair – which he wasn’t sitting in. For several long moments, there was nothing on screen but an empty desk amidst silence. Then, very slowly and awkwardly, the camera panned back to the other side of the studio where the host was actually standing.
Tapping his watch, the charismatic broadcaster stifled a giggle before greeting viewers and joking that he thought it was “still afternoon.”
He moved swiftly on to the top story on the Conservative leadership contest, launching into a broadcast about Matt Hancock backing Boris Johnson and the Channel 4 debates.
But viewers flocked to Twitter to vent their disbelief at the enormous gaffe.
One wrote: “You have one job, one job.”
Another slammed: “Yet more incompetence from the BBC. Our enforced television tax is paying for this unprofessionalism.”
One mocked: “At least we don’t pay for this rubbish…oh.”
Another said: “Good job BBC. Why do people still take them seriously?”
In light of the empty chair Channel 4 used to highlight Boris Johnson absence during the Tory leadership debate last night, one person savvily quipped: “Not just Channel 4 featuring empty chairs then?”
But Mr McCoy himself laughed off the mistake after a commentator asked where the incident was “embarrassing or funny”, claiming: “I wasn’t embarrassed… were YOU?”
He then quipped that he “doubted” it would be the first blooper of the 2019 reel.
Mr McCoy is no stranger for attracting the attention of amused viewers.
Earlier this year, the was left aghast as he reported on the Scottish Parliament Dog of the Year competition.
He read: “Fur one day only, Holyrood has gone to the dogs for the Scottish Parliament’s Dog of the year contest. Here are the competitors, battling it out to become top dog – well that is a familiar phrase.
“In a positively tough field, the Scotty dogs had to take on a number of obstacles outside the Scottish Parliament – some faring a bit better than others.”
McCoy announced Jeremy Balfour and his pet as the winners before revealing that the story ended with the line: “A ruff day for everyone else.”
As the segment ended, the veteran journalist put his head in his hands before muttering “I trained for this” as the broadcast moved on.
