ITV has issued a statement after a 'suspicious item' forced an evacuation at its studios leading to This Morning and Loose Women being taken off-air.
This Morning viewers were left confused during Thursday's edition of the programme after hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield failed to return to the show live following an ad break.
The presenters had been overseeing a cooking segment in which Donel Skehan had whipped up some delicious raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake bars .They wrapped up slot then went into a break with no signs of there being any issues behind-the-scenes.
However, when the programme returned This Morning's opening titles ran again before Holly and Phil, in different outfits, were seen presenting a compilation-style show.
"Welcome to This Morning. As we can’t be with you live today we have lined up some of our best bits to enjoy," Phillip said as viewers flocked onto Twitter to share their confusion at the sudden change.
It was then reported that it happened amid a security alert by Wood Lane station in London, which is directly opposite the show's Television Centre studios.
A spokesperson for ITV has now confirmed to the Manchester Evening News : "Due to a suspected security alert, the building which ITV daytime broadcast from was safely evacuated. The issue has been resolved and staff have returned to the building following the all clear from the police."
The spokesperson added: "We apologise for the interruption to the schedule and we have now returned to normal programming."
A statement from the Metropolitan Police on Thursday afternoon also confirmed: "At 11:14hrs on Thursday, 10 March, police were called to reports of a security alert at Wood Lane, White City. It was reported a suspicious item had been discovered.
"The area was evacuated as a precaution and White City and Wood Lane tube stations were temporarily closed. The incident was stood down shortly before 12:49hrs. An investigation is ongoing."
The issues on the network continued immediately after This Morning with Loose Women at 12.30pm which was also replaced by a pre-recorded episode.
Presenter Nadia Sawalha told viewers they were seeing a "very special episode" of the panel show, which would be showing the best bits of the Life Before Loose series.
An identical tweet from This Morning and Loose Women's official accounts read at the time: "We apologise for the break in live programming today. We are currently running pre-recorded content and hope to be back with you soon."
This Morning's Phillip has since told his millions of Instagram followers that the incident was a false alarm and that they were allowed back in the building - but not before making a trip elsewhere first.
READ MORE: Holly Willoughby has ITV This Morning viewers in stitches with lipstick 'confession'
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