The Pride of Britain Awards are ‘sorry’ for the way the three bereaved dads feel (Picture: Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images)
ITV has responded after 3 Dads Walking expressed how ‘disappointed’ they were that there petition calling for suicide prevention to be made a compulsory part of the school curriculum was edited out of the Pride of Britain Awards.
Earlier this week, the star-studded ceremony took place at Grosvenor House in London to honour unsung heroes across the nation.
Ashley Banjo and Carol Vorderman hosted the proceedings, with celebrities including Holly Willoughby, Olly Murs and Sir Mo Farah also in attendance.
The recipients of the special recognition award were 3 Dads Walking, a trio of men who banded together after they all lost their daughters to suicide in order to raise money on a fundraising walk.
They’ve since raised more than £880,000 for charity as they strive to raise awareness of suicide prevention.
While they were proud to receive their recognition at the awards ceremony, later on Twitter they wrote that they were displeased over the fact that a petition that they’re trying to take to Parliament was not included in the final cut of the programme, which is 120 minutes long on ITV Hub including adverts.
‘We’re very disappointed that @PrideOfBritain & @ITV edited any mention of our petition from last nights programme,’ they tweeted, before urging people to sign the petition, which already has over 139,000 signatures.
The title of the petition is called: ‘Make suicide prevention a compulsory part of the school curriculum’, and it’s surpassed the 100,000-signature threshold needed in order for Parliament to consider it for a debate.
In a statement sent to Metro.co.uk, ITV said: ‘The remarkable efforts made by the 3 Dads Walking to highlight the vital issue of suicide among young people in the UK were marked with the presentation of a richly-deserved Pride of Britain Special Recognition Award at this year’s event.
‘Along with a pre-recorded video of their work, last night’s Pride of Britain Awards 2022 on ITV featured Mike, Andy and Tim speaking as they received their award about the number of young people who are tragically lost to suicide each year and the urgent need for this issue to be addressed.’
The Pride of Britain Awards added in a statement: ‘We are full of admiration for the Three Dads campaign and are so sorry they feel this was not fully addressed in the final ITV show.
‘We are now using all the weight of POB to push the campaign across our social media channels.’
The Pride of Britain Awards was condensed for the ITV broadcast, meaning that there were other parts of the ceremony that also didn’t make the final cut.
After 3 Dads Walking won their award, ITV shared the announcement on its website while also highlighting the ongoing petition.
The Pride of Britain Awards 2022 are available to watch on ITV Hub.
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The Pride of Britain Awards are ‘sorry’ for the way the three bereaved dads feel.