Skip to content

Britain Get Talking

Take a mate on a date

Talking with our friends is one of the best things we can do for our mental wellbeing, but 1 in 3 of us are seeing our mates less than we have in years. It’s time we celebrate our friendships as much as we do romance. So come on Britain, take your mate on a date and get talking!

LAURA BOYD: Who doesn’t love love?

DECLAN DONNELLY: But there’s something else that’s 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 we can do

LAURA BOYD: to help support our mental wellbeing.

DERMOT O'LEARY: So today, take a mate on a date

GEORGIA TAYLOR: Go for a walk.

TOM FLETCHER: Take them for a coffee.

LAURA WOODS: Or just check in on them.

KAREN CARNEY: Because sometimes...

COLLEEN NOLAN: The best thing for our heads and our hearts...

KELLE BRYAN: Is a proper catch up with our pals.

[DERMOT O'LEARY AND ALISON HAMMOND LAUGH]

ANT MCPARTLIN: So come on Britain.

LAURA BOYD: Take a mate on a date...

ALISON HAMMOND: And get talking!

COLLEEN AND KELLE: Cuppa and a chit chat?

Editorial moments

Good Morning Britain

[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.

This Morning

[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.

10 low cost ways to date your mate

Make it official. Pencil in a monthly "date night" with your best pal.

Bring the restaraunt to their house and cook them their favourite meal.

Why not make it a challenge? Give each other a brief of three words. Then let each other plan something truly unique!

Schedule in that catch up zoom call you never have time for.

Date your mate from your sofa with a Friday night TV watchalong.

Walk and talk in a park near you. Throw in a picnic if the weather lets you!

Host a cookalong over zoom before enjoying a virtual dinner date.

Indulge your best pal by arriving at their door with their favourite tipple or treat.

Take turns hosting "surprise" date nights where the only rule is secrecy!

Commit to trying something new together - a new walk, a new cafe, a new activity.

The STV logo sits on top of Britain Get Talking logo. Underneath it says 'supported by Scottish Action for Mental Health, YoungMinds and Mind' alongside their charity logos.

By using this site, you agree we can set and use cookies. For more details of these cookies and how to disable them, see our cookie policy.

Terms of Use | Privacy Notice

© Copyright STV plc