GMB's Richard Madeley left red-faced after show chaos as fans say 'ITV's pulled the plug'

Richard Madeley was forced to ask, "Can you hear me?" twice as the Good Morning Britain presenters attempted to speak with Nancy Dell'Olio. The Italian lawyer talked about the late Sven Goran Eriksson, with whom she was in a relationship from 1998 to 2007.

Richard, 68, and his co-host Charlotte Hawkins, 49, spoke to the England manager's former girlfriend via video link as she resides in Italy, but suffered an awkward technical blunder.

The GMB host began: "Nancy joins us live for the first interview she's given since Sven's death. It's lovely to see you again Nancy. It's been many years since we last spoke. It's good to see you looking so well."

Richard went on: "To be loved, someone has to be lovable. What was it about Sven that you find so quickly and so permanently to be so loveable?"

But the presenter was met with silence as Nancy stared into the distance.

He said: "Ok, Nancy. Just checking you can hear us ok. Can you hear me alright?"

She shook her head and replied: "No."

"Ok, let us just jiggle with a few of our switches and toggles here," he replied. "I'll ask again... can you hear us now, Nancy? Am I coming through loud and clear?"

The GMB duo were met with a deafening silence as Charlotte chimed in: "I think we might have a little twiddle around technically to try and sort this out."

Richard added: "These things keep happening a lot. Especially on live radio... have you noticed? On television, it's much less common."

The presenting duo were forced to cut away from their interview with Nancy and move onto their ITV competition.

Viewers immediately reacted to the technical blunder as @Hawaii_Fife_0 remarked: All that build up and the line is dead [laughing emoji] #gmb."

@InformeOculto tweeted: "She doesn't want to talk to Richard #GMB," while @julesnhans commented: "Can you hear me… No #gmb."

@jane joked: "They pulled the plug."

@Gm4nHere said: "She obviously can hear coz she answered the question. Richard: Can you hear me Nancy? Nancy: No [laughing emoji]."

@allen_rob tweeted: "That interview was insightful #gmb."

Fortunately, Charlotte and Richard were able to get Nancy back on video link but first talked about an upcoming debate while on air.

When she returned to the show and the interview came to a close, Nancy became emotional as she shared the last conversation she had with Sven, days before his death.

As she tried to fight back her tears, she told the presenters: "It's hard pretending that you don't know he was about to die."

"I never thought that he was about to die.I always believed there would be some sort of miracle."

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV at 6am