Good Morning Britain launches 1 Million Minutes campaign for 2020

Today saw the launch of Good Morning Britain’s ‘1 Million Minutes’ campaign, celebrating five years of award-winning success for the social purpose initiative seeking to end loneliness. 

Amid lockdown and isolation, 2020 has been a year of missed moments with family, friends and colleagues, and as Covid continues the campaign is asking you to pledge your time to stop loneliness becoming the next pandemic.By 8am this morning, viewers had already pledged a staggering 9 million minutes, with the numbers constantly rising.To launch the campaign, GMB has teamed up with Eastenders’ actor Jake Wood for his emotional directorial debut. Jake has directed a brand new video to accompany an exclusively commissioned poem about missed moments and the loneliness of 2020, written by British poet Hussain Manwar. Music for the video was provided by Naughty Boy. The video depicts loneliness across Britain, from an elderly woman at home alone, to a young girl sat in a deserted playground, while also shining a light on the tireless work of our frontline workers.

Jake Wood joined Piers and Susanna this morning to discuss his involvement in the campaign.

Jake said: “It’s the same for every family up and down the country, it’s been such a strange year... I really wanted to try and reflect a little bit of what everyone has been through in the whole year. Everyone has been affected this year in loads of different ways. I sent out a tweet when I was looking to put some of the moments into the film, asking about some of the moments that they had missed out on this year. Some of the replies were absolutely heartbreaking - people have died and they have not been able to be there, people missing their grandchildren and people having chemo and not being able to support friends and family. From my point of view, it was about trying to put all of that into it. ”

He continued: “I think the latest figures are nine million lonely people in the UK, which is a huge staggering number. Again, this is one of the main reasons that I was so excited to get involved with this campaign. This year more than ever there are so many people in need, who are lonely and need support. This campaign you can just get involved, you can donate anything from an hour, as much or as little as you want to do...pick up the phone and get involved.”

‘WE SHOULDN’T BE YOUR ONLY COMPANY’

Also on the show, Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid discussed a hard-hitting GMB advertising campaign that launched in the paper’s today. The advert was designed to highlight the epidemic of loneliness facing the UK. The advert shows Piers and Susanna on a television screen as a lonely viewer is reflected in the glass, with the tagline ‘We shouldn’t be your only company’.

“We are in the papers today because of our viewers,” Susanna said of the advert. “We shouldn’t be your only company. Now we are very grateful to be your company but of course we are in the middle of a pandemic which means lots of people are on their own. We know what a privilege to be in your bedrooms, your living rooms,your kitchens when you are on your own.… for millions of people that’s exactly what we are, your only company. Please help end loneliness, pledge an hour of your time to 1 million minutes… we want to raise a record number of minutes this year because we are in an epidemic of loneliness.”Throughout December on GMB a host of famous faces will share their own experiences alongside viewer stories of heart-breaking isolation and the heroes who made people’s lives less lonely.

Also returning is the ‘1 Million Minutes’ awards ceremony hosted by Ben Shephard and Kate Garraway live from the GMB studio. This year the event will be virtual and will once again look to recognise and celebrate those dedicating their lives to helping fight loneliness in the UK.

The campaign is calling on the general public to donate their time to volunteer for incredible charities fighting loneliness including Alzheimer's Society, Captain Tom Foundation, Grief Encounter, Once Upon a Smile, Re-Engage and The Not Forgotten. 1 Million Minutes is part of ITV’s ‘Britain Get Talking’ initiative and has seen 150 minutes pledged since launching in 2016.