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ITV announces new mental wellness campaign to help families get closer

As the show built towards its climax, hosts Ant and Dec turned to viewers to unveil the initiative, which is supported by mental health charities Mind and YoungMinds.

Britain Get Talking is the first stage of a five year commitment from ITV to promote mental wellness with the goal of getting 10 million people to take action to improve their mental or physical health by 2023.

Suddenly calling a halt to proceedings, Ant and Dec addressed the audience, inviting viewers at home to turn their attention away from the acts competing for the BGT crown to focus instead on one another and let mental wellness take centre stage.

Their message, at the core of the Britain Get Talking campaign, was the importance of taking steps to help maintain mental wellness, with making time away from distractions for regular conversation with friends and family recommended as a simple but effective measure. Judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams then fell silent along with the audience as Ant and Dec brought Britain’s Got Talent to a silent stop for one minute while cameras broadcast shots of backstage crew holding up cards bearing slogans that read: “Use our silence to talk to each other.”

The following commercial break opened with a film featuring talent from ITV’s most well-known shows, such as This Morning’s Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, Dermot O’Leary, Gordon Ramsay and Brenda Blethyn, who did not make any sound or movement while appearing in their usual TV settings. The same message about prioritising mental wellness was woven into the scenes.

The takeover continued with silent ads from Dunelm, Oral-B, Gillette, Seat and Network Rail. Over the next month, "Britain get talking" ads will hijack the channel, featuring familiar ITV faces who will use their silence to prompt viewers to talk to each other at home.

The stars lending their support to the campaign are drawn from across ITV’s shows, from Soaps and Daytime to Entertainment, Factual, Sport and News. They include: Dermot O’Leary, Coronation Street’s Alexandra Mardell, Rugby World Cup pundit and former England international Maggie Alphonsi MBE, Gordon Ramsay, Gino D’Acampo and Fred Sirieix, Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, Jonathan Ross, Julie Etchingham, Tom Bradby, Robert Peston, Mark Pougatch, Iain Stirling, Alex Beresford, Emmerdale’s Mark Charnock and Emma Atkins, Charlene White, Lucy Verasamy and Loose Women’s Nadia Sawalha, Saira Khan and Kaye Adams, Alison King, Myleene Klass and Amanda Holden.

TV brings people together for unmissable shared viewing moments. By disrupting one of our biggest shows this Saturday night, we want to reach a wide family audience and create the space to start a national conversation about mental wellness. At the heart of ITV’s social purpose strategy is this new five year commitment to help make mental wellness a priority in all our lives. We've worked with our long-term strategic partner, Mind, as well as Young Minds to develop Britain Get Talking. The campaign highlights the importance of talking and listening in building mental wellness, ensuring we make looking after our mental health as much of a part of our daily lives and culture as our physical health. Carolyn McCall, ITV Chief Executive

ITV worked with creative agency Uncommon Creative Studio to develop the campaign.

More information and resources can be found at itv.com/britaingettalking.