BBC pundits had awkward moment before World Snooker Championship final

It's one year on since snooker legend Steve Davis was caught giving fellow BBC pundit John Parrott the glare of doom on live TV after an ill-timed quip during their coverage of the World Championship final, in what unintentionally went down as an iconic moment.

While analysing the gripping battle at The Crucible in Sheffield, where Kyren Wilson had dominated Jak Jones with a 7-1 lead, Davis provided his insights into the epic face-off. "We know full well in long-session matches, you can get frame after frame, blocks of frames won by players," Davis pontificated.

"So, nowhere near over yet, but it's an uphill struggle and obviously I think Jak Jones would love to win this session, at the very least 5-4."

That's when Parrott, seizing the moment for some banter, chimed in: "It has happened before, of course, in 1985."

His comment threw back to Davis's infamous defeat to Dennis Taylor in the 1985 World Championship final-a sore point for Davis who was leading 7-0 before succumbing 18-17 in the match that reached its nail-biting climax during the legendary black ball final.

The final's hair-raising 35th frame saw both competitors missing shots at the decisive black ball until Taylor finally sank the shot earning him the championship title.

Davis visibly seethed at the comment, firing a withering glare in Parrott's direction, who chose to look away while continuing to speak to the camera. Hazel Irvine, the BBC presenter during the coverage, chimed in with: "That went down like a lead balloon, didn't it?".

Davis, though denied a fourth world championship by that black ball, went on to claim three more titles, ultimately ending his career tied for third with Ray Reardon on six titles, behind only Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan. The loss in the 1985 final did not leave a lasting scar on Davis.

He once reflected: "I think the best moment of my career was missing the black against Dennis Taylor. At one stage I was the strongest player in the game so I was expected to win, so those moments when everybody is excited are when you don't.

"With Dennis, that was the best and worst moment of my career because I think it just showed how greatly snooker had been appreciated by the public."

In the 2024 iteration, Jones fought back from a dismal first session, earning five out of the first eight frames in the evening, and narrowing the gap. However, Wilson took the final frame, securing an 11-6 lead going into Monday's competition.