Britain Get Talking

[MAYA JAMA]

All right. After the break, we'll be chatting to Grace and Reuben.

Hang on, who's... who's that over there?

Hello, you. Who's under the mask?

[SAM THOMPSON]

Oh, my God!

[MAYA JAMA]

What's happening, Sam? You all right?

Pete, come on over.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

[SAM THOMPSON]
Oh, my God!

[MAYA JAMA]
Come on over, Pete.

[SAM THOMPSON]
What are you doing?

[PETE WICKS]
I've come to surprise you.

[SAM THOMPSON]
I'm so confused.

[ALL]
Aww!

[SAM THOMPSON]
I'm so confused.

[MAYA JAMA]
Have a seat, guys.

[SAM THOMPSON]
He's never even watched it!

[MAYA JAMA]
It is World Friendship Day on Tuesday and Pete's secretly flown all the way here to surprise you because there's only one thing that's as good as love and that is friendship.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

So, this is all part of the Britain Get Talking campaign because talking to friends is one of the best things you can do for your mental well-being.

So, you two can go and have a little bond and a little date over by the bar.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

[Maya Jama]
Who doesn't love love?

[Declan Donnelly]
But there's something else just as important.

[Ant McPartlin]
Friendship.

[Dermot O'Leary]
So, today, take a mate on a date.

[Members of the public]

Just go for a brew, things like that.

Chill out,go to the pub or whatever.

We do like to get out.

ALISON HAMMOND LAUGHS

[SCARLOTTE DOUGLAS]

Would you please be my date? Would you be up for it?

[MARVERINE COLE]
I'd love to.

[SCARLOTTE DOUGLAS]
Yay!

[MAYA JAMA]
Who's under the mask?

[Sam Thompson]
Oh, my God!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

[Ant McPartlin]
So, come on, Britain...

[MAYA JAMA]
Take a mate on a date.

[ALISON HAMMOND]
And get talking.

[COLLEEN NOLAN AND KELLE BRYAN]
Cuppa and a chit-chat.

THEY LAUGH

[ITV PRESENTER SCARLETTE DOUGLAS]

Britain Get Talking is encouraging people to take their mate on a date and get talking after a poll for ITV revealed that one in three people are spending less time with their friends than they did five years ago.

Supported by Maya Jama, Ant and Dec, a plethora of ITV faces are encouraging viewers at home to reach out to your mate.

So, on that note, Marverine, I would love to take you out on a date.

Would you please be my date, would you be up for it?

[ITV PRESENTER MARVERINE COLE]
I would love to.

[SCARLETTE]
Yay! These are just for you.
Bring them on in.

[MARVERINE]
Oh, my goodness! Oh, wow, OK!
Oh, they're beautiful. Thank you very much.

[SCARLETTE]
You're welcome.

[MARVERINE]
Bit OTT, but I'll have it.

[SCARLETTE]
No, never too much, never too much for a good mate.

[RANVIR SINGH]
So, the whole point of the Britain Get Talking campaign is to just check in on your mate, go, "Let's just have 15 minutes,let's grab a coffee, "let's have a Zoom."

[SCARLETTE]
Exactly that. "Let's find out how you're doing."
So many times, we say, "Yeah, I'm fine," but we don't really talk or go into it. Right.

[ED BALLS]
And do you have to buy six heart-shaped balloons every time...?

[SCARLETTE]
That's just how I do things, Ed.

[RANVIR]
You're a bit extra.

[SCARLETTE]
I like to be over the top. I'm a bit extra. Big and bold. Go big or go home.

[RANVIR]
Or go on a date with your mate.

[SCARLETTE]
With Marv.

[DERMOT O'LEARY]

It is World Friendship Day today, however, a new poll reveals
that one in three people...

[ROCHELLE HULMES]
Happy World Friendship Day.

[DERMOT O'LEARY]
Thank you.
..are spending less time with friends than five years ago. I think this is sadly the way of the world.

This year, Britain Get Talking is focusing on friendship. This is an ITV campaign. Talking with friends is one of the most powerful actions we can have with our mental well-being, but 37% of people have lost touch with a friend since the COVID pandemic.

Nick, do you still see Robert Redford and...

THEY LAUGH

[NICK FERRARI]
David Cameron and all the friends that used to come round. Boris and all the lot of them.

No, do you know, this is absolutely extraordinary because I couldn't believe it when I read the brief from your colleagues earlier today because I heard last night from one of the producers I have worked with on my show years and years ago to tell me the great news that he and his wife are expecting a baby, which is very exciting.

I replied with a message, "Congratulations, "do we know who the father is?"

I don't think that did the friendship much good, but anyway, we're hoping to...

THEY LAUGH

[DERMOT]

Nick, that's true friendship.

[SONIA SODHA]
Starting things off lightly.

[NICK]
Exactly. I'll be catching up with a bloke I haven't seen for five years, so there we are, I'm actually part of Friendship Day today. I'm living it.

[ROCHELLE]
I like that. But do you think it's something that does happen with kind of lifestyle changes?

You'll be at different places in your life, I don't know where. We were talking about this before in the dressing room, weren't we, that maybe when I was single, my friends were kind of...You know, you've got your old friends, but they kind of change, and then it looks a little bit different, and then I maybe do different things now with the children or.

It's kind of getting, having a group chat or whatever, and you make a date which at the time seems like light years away, doesn't it, it seems so long away, but actually, it comes round quickly, and everyone does love a good catch-up.

[SONIA]
Absolutely, and I think it is partly lifestyle, but I think this is a really important campaign because we know from the evidence that actually, friendship and having rich friendships is really important to human well-being. And I think as a society, we place all the emphasis on romantic love and finding the love of your life, and that's important to well-being, but we sometimes under-emphasise how important friends are.

And one of the things that we know from the research, actually, is that there is a gender friendship gap. So, women are more likely to say they have rich, intense friendships than men are, particularly older men. And I think that's probably related to, you know, men do have lower rates of well-being than women. Some academics have looked at it, actually, and it's very, very interesting because there's different styles of friendship that women tend to have with each other and men have with each other. So men's friendship are often characterised as shoulder to shoulder, so doing things side by side, whereas female friendship is often characterised as face to face.

But I do think that there's been very interesting research that shows for example that young boys tend to have the same types of very rich friendships as young girls, kind of based on intimacy and secrets, etc. But it gets hammered out of them as they get older by sort of societal misogyny and the idea that, you know, it's wrong to have, like, close male friends and to sort of have these emotional bonds with your close male friends. You know, like, in the olden days, it might be seen as, you know, homophobically as being a bit "gay" or something.
You know, really awful sort of stereotypes of masculinity getting imposed on boys.

So I do think there's something for us to do as a society which is kind of, you know, supporting everyone to have friendships, but in particular, men. Cos I think with lower rates of male well-being and higher rates of male suicide,and men sometimes feeling more isolated, particularly towards the end of life, friendship is very, very important.

[ROCHELLE]
There's no therapy like chatting with your friends.

[SONIA]
Exactly, exactly.
For women, women get a lot of their therapeutic kind of interactions through very rich friendships, and I think, from the men I know in my life, I don't know whether you would agree, Dermot and Nick, but men tend to find that a little bit...We women, we talk incessantly...

[ROCHELLE]
Too much, nearly. Yeah, yeah.

[SONIA]
..on an emotional level, whereas I think sometimes men can...Hopefully, that's changing, but sometimes, men can find that more difficult.

[DERMOT]
Yeah, I agree, I agree. Nick?

[NICK]
Totally agree. It amazes me my partner can spend three or four hours in the pub with a couple of girlfriends, gets home and immediately rings one of them cos they've got something to say.

If I spent that long with Dermot, I don't need to talk to him for a month! We can go a whole month without chatting.

[THEY ALL LAUGH]

[ROCHELLE]
That is so me!

[DERMOT]
I never thought I could say I could be all Nicked out, which I never thought was even possible.

[ROCHELLE]
Why doesn't everyone just ring somebody that they haven't spoke to in, like, months today?
Public service announcement, call your friend that you've not spoke to in, like, six months today just to chat.

[NICK]
Have you got Boris's number to hand? I'll give him a call.

[ROCHELLE LAUGHS]
I definitely don't.

[PRESENTER]
Think of a date night, but with a difference. Doesn't have to be about romance.
ITV's Britain Get Talking campaign says dates can be with mates as well.

[MAYA JAMA]
Who doesn't love love?

[DECLAN DONNELLY]
But there's something else just as important.

[ANT MCPARTLIN]
Friendship.

[DANNY JONES]
That's right, you see, talking with our friends...

[KELLE BRYAN]
Is one of the best things that we can do...

[MAYA JAMA]
To help support our mental well-being.

[DERMOT O'LEARY]
So, today, take a mate on a date.

[PRESENTER]
We asked people in Doncaster where they would go for a mate date.

[MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC]
Just go for a brew and things like that. Have a nice brew.

Play pool. Yeah, a game. Game of pool and whatnot.

We do like to get out, don't we, and try and do different things?
Out and about, yeah. Doesn't... As we know, we're getting a little bit older.

Just chill out, basically, go to the pub or whatever. We're only young. That's it.

[PRESENTER]

Research would suggest that friendship ties are getting looser.

One in three people questioned in a recent poll said they're spending less time with their close friends than they did five years ago.

And the top three reasons given for having less contact were living further apart, life changes, like becoming a parent, and having less money to spend on going out.

Experts say friendships in whatever form they take can be vitally important, especially for our mental well-being.

[REPRESENTATIVE FROM MENTAL HEALTH CHARITY, MIND]

You're choosing to be in each other's lives, you're choosing to prioritise each other in whatever way works for you, whether that's, you know, going for coffee once a week or texting each other during Eurovision. Whatever your common ground is and the ways that you stay connected, that's what brings your life meaning, right?

[GEORGIA TAYLOR]
Go for a walk...

[TOM FLETCHER]
Take them for a coffee...

[LAURA WOODS]
Or just check in on them.

[PRESENTER]
The latest Britain Get Talking campaign will be featured across ITV with online support and advice available, too.

[ANT MCPARTLIN]
So, come on, Britain...

[MAYA JAMA]
Take a mate on a date...

[ALISON HAMMOND]
And get talking.

Kevin Ashford, ITV News.