ITV have been praised for pausing the transmission of the Britain’s Got Talent final to promote their new mental health awareness campaign.
During Saturday night’s usual transmission of the competition, presenters Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly interrupted the show to talk about ITV’s new mental health campaign, ‘Britain Get Talking’.
The presenters encouraged viewers of the show to forget about the competition, and take a moment to talk to the people around them.
Donnelly also used the segment to reveal some statistics about the current state of mental health in the UK.
“In the last 15 years there has been a staggering 48 percent rise in anxiety and depression amongst British children,” he revealed.
However, along with the support of ITV’s campaign, a solution could be something as simple as talking to whoever will listen.
McPartlin added: “We all know that these days there are more distractions than ever because we’re looking at our phones, but it’s so important for our mental well-being to remember to get together with people we care about and talk.”
The launch of the campaign comes after Ant McPartlin revealed his struggle with anxiety and depression and sought professional assistance to help him.
After McPartlin and Donnelly introduced the campaign, the show fell silent to encourage viewers to talk to each other.
The campaign launched by ITV will run for five years and aims to improve the mental or physical health of 10 million people.
Other famous ITV faces such as Jonathan Ross and This Morning’s Phil and Holly also took part in a video used to launch the campaign.
By Faith Pring
Feature image credit: ITV