BBC Breakfast’s Charlie Stayt was forced to issue an apology during Friday’s show after a technical blunder derailed a report about the late Gene Hackman.

Police have launched an investigation into the Hollywood star’s death after he and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their New Mexico home on Thursday.

The investigation was discussed on the show in a pre-recorded segment which ended on a photograph of the Oscar-winning star.

Yet a technical blunder meant the photograph remained on screens as Charlie moved onto the next item – a controversial BBC documentary about Gaza which was narrated by the son of a senior Hamas leader.

Viewers were shown a picture of Gene as Charlie began: ‘The BBC has apologised for serious flaws in the production of a documentary about the war in Gaza…’

Realising the error, Charlie stuttered and said: ‘apologies – let’s just get err – that bit’s straightened out’.

The image then came off the screen but as Charlie began to discuss the documentary again another technical issue flashed to a reporter in Kyiv waiting to do his report.

The blunders didn’t go unnoticed by viewers, with one tweeting: ‘Work experience trainee producing #BBCBreakfast this morning?’

The BBC issued a grovelling apology on Thursday after backlash to their controversial Gaza documentary.

In a statement the corporation acknowledged ‘serious flaws in the making of the programme’ which cost more than £400,000 to produce.

Controversy around ‘Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone’ forced the BBC to issue an apology and pull the programme from iPlayer last week.

The row then spilled on to the streets of the capital on Tuesday evening as anti-Hamas protesters arrived outside the BBC’s headquarters at Broadcasting House.

In an update from the BBC, it confirmed that Abdullah al-Yazouri’s father was Ayman al-Yazouri, a Deputy Agriculture Minister in the Hamas Government, and that his mother was given a ‘limited sum of money for the narration’.

The London-based Hoyo Films – the independent production company made the documentary – failed to tell the BBC on multiple occasions about potential connections the narrator and his family might have with Hamas.
They only acknowledged that they knew about the connection after transmission.

Whilst the BBC stressed the production company was independent, they accepted that ‘the processes and execution of this programme fell short of our expectations’.

Despite Hoyo Film’s reassurances that none of the £400,000 budget used to make the programme was given to any members of Hamas, the BBC has announced a full audit of the programme.

The Director-General of the BBC are also ordered a full fact-finding review which will investigate any complaints and issues raised about the documentary.