Sanderson Lam was quick to poke fun at the BBC as a strange warning for “sexual content and disturbing scenes” popped up on their coverage of the World Snooker Championship. The action is heating up at the Crucible, as the tournament moves into its last 16.
However, it wasn’t just the prestigious play on the baize which caught the attention of fans watching worldwide. Mark Williams faced Barry Hawkins during Friday’s morning session, while Shaun Murphy returned to action against Xiao Guodong. But as the BBC‘s broadcast began, a strange message at the top of the screen read: “Contains some sexual content and disturbing scenes.”
In a hilarious turn of events, Lam took to social media to share a screenshot of the incident, writing alongside it: “I really hope not,” as snooker fans added their own funny quips. One said: “Not what I want to see eating my cornflakes this morning…”
A second joked: “You never know with Mark Williams,” while a third said: “And that’s just Shaun’s cue action!” A fourth quipped: “The Beeb not taking any chances after @markwil147 threatened to streak down the M4…” while a fifth added: “Is this your fault @markwil147!?”
Some of those comments were in response to Williams joking he would “run down the M4 from London to Cardiff naked,” if he won a fourth world title this year. The 51-year-old also attended a press conference in his birthday suit in 2018 when he won his third world title.
It comes as the 2026 World Championship has already seen its fair share of ups and downs. Guodong was lambasted for his decision to make Murphy play out of a snooker eight times, before he was eventually left snookered himself when the Magician finally found the brown.
John Parrott, speaking on BBC comms, said: “Xiao Guodong got exactly what he deserved there. When Shaun Murphy was snookered when trying to play the brown, Xiao should have said, ‘No, play from there,’ rather than taking the penalty points. The points are immaterial when there are still all those reds left on the table.”
Murphy also made his feelings very clear on one front-row spectator who targeted him with a foul-mouthed comment off the back of a scuffed shot during his opener with Fan Zhengyi. The player lost focus when a fan was heard uttering: “s*** shot” at the time.
After securing a 10-9 win over Zhengyi, Murphy took to social media to air his grievances. He wrote: “Just a friendly reminder that if you’re sat on the front row in the Crucible and I play a shot that may not work for a particular reason, it’s probably best not to say ‘s*** shot’ out loud. I’ve got ears.”