This Morning’s Cat Deeley was visibly moved to tears when co-host Ben Shephard arranged a birthday surprise for her. During the show, Ben presented a touching video from poet Pam Ayres, who had composed a special poem just for Cat.
An emotional Cat explained to Ben that Pam’s gesture was so poignant as she held an important place in her childhood memories. In an instance of comfort, Ben squeezed Cat’s hand while she dabbed at her eyes and continued presenting.
As today’s episode commenced, Ben surprised Cat with a customised Colin the Caterpillar cake featuring her own face. Commenting on the cake’s appearance, Ben said, “Look at this cake, it looks a bit odd,” while the camera focused on its design.
A delighted Cat remarked: “If it’s your birthday, you get the face!” before sharing her family’s birthday celebrations. “Everyone was up this morning and excited as I got up at 5.30. There were cards made, there was one where we were all swimming underwater and they had made it and it said ‘take a deep breath mum, you’re getting old’. They thought it was the funniest thing on the planet.”
Ben, taking the opportunity to tease, asked about Cat’s age, prompting her cheerful admission, “48! ” followed by Ben’s playful response: “You don’t look a day over 47! You look amazing. I think any opportunity to celebrate birthdays is very important. But also, we’ve got the amazing Pam Ayres on the show later.
So what we asked Pam to do is write you a poem for your birthday and she has written a poem for Cat Deeley.”, reports the Mirror.
The programme then switched to a heartwarming video of Pat reciting her bespoke poem for Cat, which read: “We mustn’t forget people’s birthdays – the one day in all of the year for making somebody feel special, and those far away to feel dear.
“To get out of bed in the morning to see all the cards on the mat, from all of the folk who remembered, well that’s nice – well you can ask Cat! No we mustn’t forget people’s birthdays, that is the wrong thing to do. So with speed uppermost, pop a card in the post, and then they might send one to you.”
Overwhelmed by emotion, Cat responded to the touching gesture, saying: “That’s so amazing,” as she was moved to tears, adding: “We were talking about this this morning. She’s part of my childhood! You wouldn’t even see her and you’d know exactly who she was!”
Get the latest celebrity gossip and telly news sent straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily Showbiz newsletter here.