The evening match of the World Snooker Championship was getting underway at the Crucible Theater when everything came to a halt when a power problem within the venue caused a mid-frame interruption and forced broadcasters to stop broadcasting during the semi-finals. There was an outage during Thursday night’s second semi-final between Mark Allen and Wu Yize, with viewers losing live coverage for about 12 minutes at 7:51pm, before transmissions gradually resumed across platforms.
power failure at Crucible stops live broadcast mid-frame
Allen was leading 31-0 in the third inning when the live broadcast suddenly dropped, disappearing from television screens and coverage on digital platforms as the issue unfolded inside the venue. Viewers who were watching BBC Two suddenly switched to a rerun of the program wilderness islands As technicians worked to resolve the glitch, a message appeared on the screen: “We’re sorry for the outage and are working to correct the glitch. Please stay with us, we are experiencing some technical glitches.” The outage lasted around 12 minutes and by the time pictures were sent back to BBC iPlayer and TNT Sports, Allen had finished his third game of the game, off target. BBC Two viewers experienced a slightly longer delay before live broadcasts resumed.
After the reason was revealed, Hazel Owen apologized on live broadcast
Host Hazel Owen addressed the issue immediately after the report returned, offering a detailed apology and explanation. She said: “Welcome back to Sheffield and we apologize for the disruption to the evening at the Crucible in the second semi-final. We had a rather unexpected power issue. I assure you it had nothing to do with not having power to the meters! We lost power but not Mark Allen who started his semi-final campaign in the third.” As more information leaked from inside the venue, Irving further added on what triggered the blackout. “There were huge crashes, explosions and impacts, which resulted in what we thought was a blackout, and yet, in the middle of it all, Mark Allen hit a 91-point breakout,” she said.
Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen plays against England’s Kyren Wilson on day eight of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theater in Sheffield, England, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (Richard Sellers/PA via AP)
Later, as play resumed and Allen pushed forward in the fourth inning, Irving again reflected on the interference and the game situation. “Mark Allen is back for this game and we are back after a short unplanned hiatus,” she said.
Steve Davis describes chaos inside venues during blackout
Six-time world champion Steve Davis, an expert, detailed how events unfolded inside the Crucible, where the damage was evident. “It was clear something happened when the screen in the room went blank, the lights went out and the cameras stopped filming,” he said. Davis described the confusion among players, officials and those on the field as the situation unfolded. He added: “Someone asked, ‘What happened, how are we doing now?'” No one knew what to do. “ Davis emphasized Allen’s composure during the incident and its aftermath, despite the disruption. He said: “Mark Allen realized something was going on and he did a great job of maintaining his standards without being confused about what was going on.” He also revealed that the issue appears to be recurring in games. “It’s amazing that it happened again,” Davis said. “We heard it in the last frame. He stayed calm. That’s the key man in the moment.”
Match context: Allen responds in semi-finals
Despite the interruption, the semi-final itself remained tightly even, with Allen recovering strongly after the restart and leveling the match with a 76 in the fourth frame. The match was one of two in the final four games of this year’s championship, with Sean Murphy facing John Higgins in the other semi-final. Murphy, the 2005 world champion, is in strong form after defeating 2025 world champion Zhao Xintong, while four-time world champion Higgins, who last won the title in 2011, has defeated Neil Robertson, Ali Carter and seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan to enter this stage. Wu, known as the “Chinese prodigy”, had earlier secured a semi-final spot by defeating Hussein Wafai. As of May 1st, the semi-finals were played in a best-of-33 format and the game was still going strong until the final match on May 2nd, with two games still hanging in the balance. The final will be a 35-inning match and is scheduled to be held at the Crucible on May 3-4.
