“BBC Dad” Returns: The Kids Who Crashed the Internet’s Favourite Interview Are All Grown Up
Nearly a decade after his children toddled into a live BBC broadcast, professor Robert E. Kelly shared new family photos — and the internet collectively felt old.
In March 2017, political science professor Robert E. Kelly was giving a serious live interview to the BBC about South Korean politics when his young daughter marched confidently into the room, followed by her baby brother rolling in a walker — and then a frantic parent sliding in to pull them out. It became one of the most-watched live TV moments of all time.
The September update
On September 28, Kelly shared new photos on X that sent the clip racing around the internet all over again. One shows him sharing a birthday cake with his daughter Marion, now 13, and his son James, now 10. Another shows him at a street festival with his wife, Jung-A Kim, whom he affectionately calls “BBC Mom”.
Earlier this year, Kelly had marked the interview’s ninth anniversary with a similar post, and fans have followed the family’s occasional updates ever since.
Why we still love it
Part of the clip’s staying power is how relatable it became, especially once remote work made video-call interruptions a daily reality for millions. What once looked like a broadcast blooper now feels like a universal parenting moment.
The comments under Kelly’s new posts were full of the same reaction: disbelief that the toddler in the yellow sweater is now a teenager. As one popular reply put it, the clip did not age — we did.
This story was written by the Celestia Times newsroom based on the reporting linked above. Details in developing stories can change; see our corrections policy to report an error. Illustration is original artwork, not a photograph of the events described.