Viewers 'spot newsreader sleeping' on BBC Breakfast

For years presenters of early morning TV shows have talked about their early starts and yet they never show signs of tiredness... until now anyway.

At around 8:30am on Friday morning ‘BBC Breakfast’ cut to their BBC News Channel counterparts only to see newsreader Simon McCoy seemingly sleeping at his desk.

Viewers spotted him with his head resting on his arms, with many taking to Twitter afterwards to point out the gaffe.

One tweeter called Neil Tam-Im, said: "LOL at Simon McCoy being caught napping during a live bulletin!”

Sleeping newsreader McCoy took to Twitter himself to laugh off the incident. He joked to one user: “I was not asleep! Had just been told The Queen wanted me to cover her NEXT visit…”

He later said it was “a long desk head-banging that wasn’t meant to be picked up in the BBC1 opt!!”

It’s not the first time Simon McCoy has made the headlines with his strange antics. In 2009 he was caught doing push-ups at his desk and a year later the BBC had to apologise after a weatherman was caught on camera making a rude gesture at McCoy.