Age UK's Latest Campaign Reveals Emotional Real Life Stories This Christmas

Age UK, in partnership with Manning Gottlieb OMD, Drum and Indy8's Liz Unna has today launched two dramatised short films with much loved stars James Bolam MBE and Miriam Margolyes OBE, who perform real life stories as part of the charity’s ‘No one should have no one at Christmas’ campaign. The campaign will launch as a feature on ITV’s Good Morning Britain and be featured across Age UK’s website and social media channels.

The poignant films are the personal stories of Roy and Janet, who are supported by Age UK’s telephone befriending service that provides weekly friendship calls. The films are further aided by new analysis from the charity, showing that 1.2 million older people in England are chronically lonely and have been coping with loneliness for years. Throughout the campaign, the Charity is urging people to pledge their support to help tackle the loneliness that is blighting the lives of far too many older people.

The campaign launches with a three minute showcase of the film during ITV’s Good Morning Britain and continues throughout the month of December with short films aired in contextually relevant Christmas moments to create further impact and cut through the competitive seasonal noise.  This includes geographically relevant messages created using Age UK’s loneliness data.

Marianne Hewitt, Head of Brand at Age UK, said:  “Our Christmas campaign is the most important of the year, not just to raise awareness of the issue of loneliness at what is a happy and sociable time for most people, but to generate much needed funds for our services. Working with Roy, Janet, James Bolam MBE, Miriam Margolyes OBE, Manning Gottlieb OMD and Drum on this campaign was a fascinating and insightful experience and we hope that together we’ve created some very powerful content which will help everyone understand just how heart-breaking and serious loneliness is.”

Geraldine Ridgway, Business Director, Manning Gottlieb OMD adds: “Age UK’s ‘No one should have no one’ campaign is instrumental in the fight to raise awareness of loneliness. The poignant films harness the power of real stories, delivered by well-known stars, James Bolam and Miriam Margolyes, to bring awareness to a cause that affects almost a million older people in the UK alone. We are incredibly proud to work with Age UK and hope campaigns such as this truly make a difference to people’s lives.”

Matt Cole, Creative Director, Drum said: “Meeting Roy & Janet and bringing their truly moving stories to life has been one of those projects that makes the job worthwhile. It’s been a hugely collaborative effort with Age UK to create something beyond the typical charity case study in dramatising real stories of loneliness. Working with peerless actors James Bolam & Miriam Margolyes who imbue the films with a real sense of quality drama was a privilege.”