The 100-minute frame has stunned everybody in snooker (Image: BBC)
Snooker fans were furious with the BBC after the now-infamous 100-minute frame between Mark Allen and Wu Yize was turned off to broadcast an old House of Games episode. In the World Snooker Championship semi-final, Allen and Wu played out the longest frame in the competition’s history.
A bonkers 100 minutes and 21 seconds of snooker saw Allen and Wu prod the cue ball into eight reds as the black sat ominously on the edge of the corner pocket. Snooker referee Marcel Eckhardt eventually stepped in and told both players the frame would be reracked if the situation kept on unfolding as tediously as it was. It proved to be an unforgettable frame of snooker, which eventually ended with Wu claiming the frame 88-62. However, live coverage of the chaos was bumped off and put on iPlayer, with an old episode of House of Games taking its place. After this happened, snooker fans erupted in anger on social media.
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One fan wrote it was “genuinely astonishing” the coverage cut out, before a second added: “Yes, BBC Two actually did abandon one of the craziest frames of snooker in Crucible history for a 2024 episode of House of Games.”
Another offered a potential solution for this, writing: “They really need a dedicated channel for the snooker when it’s on. BBC3 and BBC4 sit there doing naff all until 7pm!” Some said they had issued complaints, while one viewer desrcibed it as a ‘disgrace’.
Ironically, Richard Osman, who was the presenter of the old episode of the House of Games which was aired, took to X to offer his own criticism of the decision. He said: “Just looking at the ratings for #ThatFrame in the snooker last night, and at the point it was taken off BBC2 there were 1.4m people watching, which is the highest rated frame of the Championships so far.”
When asked if the BBC had made a mistake, Osman added: “It’s a really interesting question. I think it was a fairly unprecedented situation, and viewers have had so many years now of using iPlayer and the Red Button, they probably thought they were on safe ground. But that frame was such a phenomenon. I’m glad it wasn’t my decision either way!
“I love the snooker, as you know, but more people watch HoG, so I suppose that’s the sense of it. People would be annoyed either way.” The BBC have been approached for comment.
Snooker fans were also unhappy with the BBC a matter of days ago, when Wu and Allen’s earlier session was disrupted by the coverage briefly switching to a wildlife show. This blunder was attributed to a power issue at the Crucible, which forced them to divert coverage for around 12 minutes.
Allen and Wu have been fighting it out for days at the World Snooker Championship semi-final (Image: Getty)
The public broadcaster took to social media and wrote: “We are sorry for the break in this programme and are trying to correct the fault. Please stay with us we are experiencing some technical faults.”
When the pictures returned, BBC presenter Hazel Irvine also offered an apology and explanation for what caused the coverage to disappear between 7.51pm and 8.03pm. She said: “Welcome back to Sheffield.
“Apologies for the interruption to our evening at the Crucible in the second semi-final. We had a rather unexpected power issue.
“Nothing to do with not feeding the meter I assure you! We lost power but Mark Allen did not, he took frame three to get his semi-final campaign underway.”