US bombers leave RAF Fairford after a suspected plot against the base
Clive Myrie's News at Ten report, with Tom Symonds on the story, led a Sunday when a Flydubai cockpit attack and strikes on Kyiv's bridges also drew far more viewers than usual.
BBC NewsStory of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 575,238 views a day, 11 times a normal first day on this channel (50,596).
US pulls bombers from UK air base after suspected terror plot | BBC News
BBC News at Ten's report on RAF Fairford passed close to a quarter of a million views in its first six hours, far more than a new upload on the channel usually gathers in a full day.
The story is a short one with large consequences. The Pentagon has confirmed that all US bombers deployed to the Gloucestershire base, a dozen B-1 strategic aircraft according to the report, have gone back to their home stations in the United States. Washington had been using the airfield to launch strikes on Iran. The move follows what US and British officials describe as a planned attack on the base, disrupted last Sunday. Police detained five men near Fairford on September 27 after spotting three suspicious vans, and counter-terrorism officers later made a sixth arrest. All six have been released on bail while inquiries continue.
The report also lays out who has said what since. Donald Trump has said the suspects meant to do "big damage." Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel passed Britain intelligence about the plot. Prime Minister Andy Burnham spoke of "strong indications" of Iranian involvement while stressing that the police investigation is still going on, and Iran has strongly denied any connection. Clive Myrie presents, with Tom Symonds, the BBC's home affairs correspondent, reporting.
It was a heavy news day on the channel. An explainer on Australia's investigation into a Flydubai co-pilot, accused of attacking his captain with a crash axe on a Dubai-Tel Aviv flight, and a report on Russian drones hitting Kyiv's bridges during Friedrich Merz's surprise visit both ran several times past a usual start. Fairford outpaced them both, and it had the least time online.
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- Channel
- BBC News
- Subscribers
- 20,100,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 30,759,147
- Channel views, pace per day
- 5,087,753 (on a normal day: 4,344,269)
- Video published
- October 4, 2026
- Video views so far
- 228,269 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 575,238
The numbers
Even for a channel of more than twenty million subscribers, a start like this one stands out among its new uploads.
