I was determined to finish ITV News at Ten, says Rageh Omaar after falling ill live on air

Rageh Omaar has said he was “determined to finish presenting” ITV’s News at Ten on Friday night after he appeared to fall ill two minutes into the show.

The presenter, 56, was taken to hospital for treatment and is now recovering at home, an ITV News spokesman confirmed.

Omaar slurred and stumbled over his words during the broadcast on Friday night but remained on air until the programme ended almost half an hour later.

“I would like to thank everyone for their kindness and good wishes, especially all the medical staff, all my wonderful colleagues at ITV News, and our viewers who expressed concern,” Omaar said in a statement released by ITV News.

“At the time, I was determined to finish presenting the programme. I am grateful for all the support I’ve been given.”

The spokesman added that Omaar would return to presenting duties “when he feels ready”. It is not known what the cause of his illness was or what treatment he had at hospital.

But on Saturday, questions remained for ITV News chiefs over its duty of care towards the veteran presenter, who first rose to prominence during the Iraq War.

‘ITV News will now need to review this’

Mark Williams-Thomas, the investigative filmmaker who has presented documentaries on ITV, said his illness should have been “spotted and dealt with earlier”.

“It was clear Rageh Omaar was not well last night,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “That’s when you need people in the gallery to step up, go straight to VT [video tape].

“It certainly looks like paramedics were called and he was taken to hospital. I wish him well and ITV News will now need to review this to ensure welfare issues [are] spotted and dealt with earlier.”

Angus Walker, a former ITV News correspondent who was employed by the channel between 2000 and 2010, said: “On a Friday evening, the ITV News newsroom is pretty empty even as News at Ten is on air but there is a duty editor on call precisely to make any big calls.

“I’ve been asked to step in for a colleague who fell ill just before going live – [it] can and has been done.”

An ITV News spokesman said: “We appreciate viewers of last night’s News at Ten were concerned about Rageh Omaar’s wellbeing.

“Following medical treatment at hospital, he is now recovering at home with his family.

“We are wishing Rageh a speedy recovery and look forward to him being back on screen when he feels ready.”

Omaar, ITV News’s international affairs editor, appeared to struggle to pronounce his words in the broadcast.

Two minutes into the show, he slurred his words when introducing the first bulletin about the King’s return to royal duties after his cancer treatment.

A few minutes later, Omaar appeared to struggle to read the autocue in an item about Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf battling to stay in power.

As he introduced the final segment of the show at 10.26pm, Omaar appeared to be making a greater effort to speak and seemed to be misreading the autocue as he spoke about weekend nightlife.

Closing the programme, Omaar again seemed to be making an effort to speak before finally saying: “Have a great weekend.”

The camera then stayed focused on him as the closing credits and music were played, during which he could be seen putting his notes away, taking off his microphone and getting ready to stand up from his chair.

ITV later pulled the show from its scheduled re-run on ITV+1, with a message instead telling viewers that the channel was “temporarily unable to bring you our +1 service”.

The broadcast is also not available on ITV X, the channel’s on-demand service.

On Friday night, an ITV spokesman said: “We are aware that viewers are concerned about Rageh Omaar’s wellbeing.

“Rageh became unwell while presenting News at Ten on Friday and is now receiving medical care.

“He thanks everyone for their well wishes.”

Omaar was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, and moved to Britain at the age of two.

He went to university at New College, Oxford before joining The Voice newspaper as a trainee and then moving to the BBC.

It was during the 2003 war in Iraq that he became widely known, as he utilised his fluency in Arabic and acquired the nickname the ‘Scud Stud’ for his good looks.

Omaar moved on to Al Jazeera in 2006 and then ITV News in 2013, where he became a special correspondent and presenter.

He was promoted to international affairs editor the following year and has been a presenter of lunchtime, evening and 10 o’clock bulletins since 2017.

Omaar anchored ITV’s coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in 2022 and also presents On Assignment, its current affairs programme.

He is married to Georgiana Rose ‘Nina’ Montgomery-Cuninghame, daughter of baronet Sir John Montgomery-Cuninghame of Corsehill, with whom he has three children.

Omaar is also the author of two books, Revolution Day, which is about the war in Iraq, and Only Half of Me, a memoir of his childhood.