Susanna and Kate age 40 years for GMB's 1 Million Minutes campaign

Our presenters Susanna Reid and Kate Garraway were aged 40 by makeup artists ahead of our 1 Million Minutes campaign which launches next week.

The pair were aged by a professional team, who have previously worked on Game Of Thrones and Star Wars. They applied prosthetic wrinkles and age spots to their skin and fitted them with grey wigs.

Watch Kate's dramatic transformation below

And here's Susanna's transformation...

Susanna and Kate took part in the experiment to get an understanding of how it feels to be older.

For the campaign, viewers are being asked to pledge their time to volunteer for a lonely, older person this Christmas. Over a million older people in England are chronically lonely and have been dealing or coping with loneliness for years, according to Age UK.

By pledging just fifteen minutes to an hour to speak to an older person, help make them lunch or do some shopping for them, GMB hopes to make a difference to lots of lives. The ambition is to receive a total pledge of one million minutes.

Susanna said: “It was such a shock to see myself aged forty years in just a matter of hours and it was a small insight into how it feels to look older.

“To think that there are around a million older people who are going to feel lonely and alone in December is upsetting and I really hope lots of people support our 1 Million Minutes campaign and make a difference to someone's life.”

And Kate added: “It was really strange looking in the mirror at myself, it felt like I was looking into my future. It made me feel quite sad too as I realised that when I will be that age lots of my loved ones will not be around anymore.

“It is so awful to think so many older people will be lonely this Christmas and I’m really hoping lots of people pledge their time to this campaign.”

The GMB campaign will feature Age UK, The Silver Line, Royal Voluntary Service and the Campaign to End Loneliness.

Viewers will be able to volunteer for a range of activities such as making a phone call to an older person for just 15 minutes to a weekly or monthly commitment of two hours. They can also just pledge to spend time with an older relative or friend that they have not seen for a while.

The campaign will launch on Giving Tuesday, 29th November, and runs throughout December.