Good Morning Britain was forced to evacuate the studio on London’s Southbank after the fire alarm went off.
The show switched from live coverage to a pre-recorded interview within seconds on Tuseday.
“It’s all happening on ITV Good Morning Britain,” one viewer wrote on social media. “Fire alarm, ‘pls leave the building’ and then 10 secs dead air!”
The show switched to a 30-year-special with Lorraine Kelly and Ben Shephard.
A message appeared on TV screens in the top right-hand corner reading: “Sorry for the interruption to our normal programme we’ll be back to the Lorraine studio as soon as possible.”
So far ITV hasn’t yet commented on what caused the fire alarm to go off.
Ben Shephard and Susanna Reid were interviewing Emmerdale actors Charley Webb and Anthony Quinlan live, down the line from Yorkshire, when the alarm went off.
Reid said: “Terribly sorry.”
Shephard said: “We have a little bit of drama in the studio. I don’t know whether the Emmerdale scriptwriters have done something but the fire alarm appears to be going off in the studio which has never, ever happened before.”
Reid said: “I’m asking the director – does this mean we have to evacuate the studio. I think if you hear a fire alarm and you’re told to evacuate the studio, it’s probably a good idea to do so. I’m going to check we have a little bit of stand by tape to run. If we do that.”
You can hear the automated voice on the alarm saying “Leave immediately by the nearest exit”.
Reid said to the Emmerdale stars: “Thanks so much for talking to us because we’re leaving the studio and that means we’re going to leave you with a little bit of what we call in the business stand-by tape.”
Reid tweeted as soon as they returned, posting a photo of herself and Shephard with the caption: “Back in the building – all fine, only thing lost in the fire alert seems to be Ben’s tie.”
A member of staff at the building, who did not want to be named, told PA that a “fuse box overheated and went on fire on the third floor”. Good Morning Britain is filmed on the third floor, he added.