Nile Gardiner on the Flydubai cockpit attack gives TalkTV a third standout in four days
Alex Philips' interview with the former Thatcher aide drew far more viewers than the channel's other reports on the same flight, including one with an Israeli Embassy spokesman.
TalkTVStory of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 369,148 views a day, 12 times a normal first day on this channel (29,932).
“We Are At WAR!” | Pilot Arrested After Stabbing Co-Pilot On Israel-Bound Flight
After the Sussexes and the RAF Fairford arrests, as we reported here, TalkTV has its third fast-starting video in four days. It is another security story, and a grave one.
"“We Are At WAR!” | Pilot Arrested After Stabbing Co-Pilot On Israel-Bound Flight" is a segment in which presenter Alex Philips interviews Nile Gardiner, a former aide to Margaret Thatcher. Its subject is the Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv that was diverted to Saudi Arabia. According to the video's description, one pilot allegedly stabbed the other and apparently tried to crash the plane. Passengers reportedly forced their way into the cockpit and restrained the attacker as the aircraft dropped 17,000 feet. The pilot was arrested, and Israeli officials praised the passengers and crew.
Thirteen hours after going up, the segment had passed 260,000 views, roughly twelve times a usual first day for the channel. TalkTV covered the same flight from other angles that day. An interview with Israeli Embassy spokesman Alex Gandler has drawn only a small share of that, and a conversation with security specialist Will Geddes, who also discussed Fairford, sits well behind.
Much of the comment section moves away from the flight itself and onto British politics. The Labour government is the most frequent subject, and Ed Miliband and Shabana Mahmood are named again and again.
The lift is concentrated in this one video. The channel as a whole is running only a little above its everyday pace, and LBC and Times Radio, two other British talk broadcasters close to it in size, are both busier than usual right now.
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- Channel
- TalkTV
- Subscribers
- 1,470,000
- Channel views, pace per day
- 1,651,022 (on a normal day: 1,487,946)
- Video published
- September 30, 2026
- Video views so far
- 262,983 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 369,148
The numbers
One segment opened far ahead of a usual first day, while the channel overall kept close to its normal rhythm.
