Public health expert interrupted by daughter during live interview on BBC
In a video that has gone viral, the news presenter says “it’s the most informative interview he has done all day.”
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, work from home has become the new normal. It can be challenging at times, especially for working mother Dr. Clare Wenham, a public health professor. During a broadcast interview on BBC News on July 1, she was interrupted by her daughter, Scarlett, for help to decide where her unicorn drawing should go.
Dr. Wenham was discussing a new method introduced by the UK health officials for coronavirus data sharing, when the attention of the BBC news presenter, whom we know as Christian, was caught by Wenham’s daughter and her struggle to decide where she should place the drawing on the shelf.
He asked Wenham her daughter’s name and suggested a suitable placement of her drawing.
“Scarlett, I think it looks better on the lower shelf and it’s a lovely unicorn,” Christian said. Both he and Wenham laughed.
The young girl walked up to the screen and asked for his name and told him that “we are deciding where mum wants it to go” to which the mother responded hastily that it should go on that shelf.
“Mummy what's his name?”
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) July 1, 2020
Dr Clare Wenham, we understand your struggles of working from home and looking after children ????https://t.co/vXb15EQatL pic.twitter.com/4f3PODtJWA
On July 2, Wenham shared a photo of the two and where Scarlett’s unicorn drawing was finally placed, and acknowledged the efforts of all mothers who are trying their best to strike a work-home balance.
We’ve decided on a shelf for the unicorn.
— Clare Wenham (@clarewenham) July 2, 2020
Thanks to all for kind words normalising the work-parent balance that so many are juggling amid #covid19 chaos
@BBCNews @haynesdeborah
Today Scarlett wants to be #superheroelsa pic.twitter.com/byMbCPrZQD
This is not the first time an official was caught on camera while being interviewed at home on live television.
In 2017, Professor Robert Kelly was on BBC News, talking about South Korea when suddenly he was distracted by his children as one of them casually walked into the room to stand next to him, followed by a toddler in a walker.
The embarrassed professor had to keep his composure as a woman rushed into the room to take the kids out immediately. The video went viral and people were happy to have a source of comic relief.
Kelly’s family was later interviewed by the Wall Street Journal and the family shared the overwhelming response. “We had to put our phones on airplane mode, I muted Twitter and I was nowhere near YouTube,” the father added.