Last week, a Manchester performance of The Bodyguard musical was halted and abandoned after riot police were called in due to audience members breaking the rules and singing along. The dramatic scenes, first reported in the Manchester Evening News, quickly made headlines across the globe with police having to stop Friday night's performance after 'fights' broke out among those watching.
The decision to ban audience members from singing had previously sparked a debate on This Morning as, with Holly Willoughby off for the Easter holidays and Phillip Schofield taking a break, it was left up to stand-in hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary to take the reins last week. But the presenting duo found themselves flooded with complaints over their discussion about The Bodyguard.
The presenting duo, alongside Vanessa Feltz, were accused of 'making light of the situation' when discussing audience singing on the programme last week. The show, which aired on Wednesday, saw the presenters discuss the producers' decision to ban audience singing, with Alison saying: "Staff are taking this very, very seriously and inflicting these rules and they are regularly walking up the aisles before the performance and during the intervals with no singing signs", as Dermot chuckled: "This is great."
