From the moment 11-year-old Corrie superfan Dante started body popping with Ashley Banjo, right through to Emili Sandé singing out the show, the Daily Mirror’s Pride of Britain had me in a state.
The two-hour ITV event is always a bit like running an emotional marathon. But this 20th anniversary ceremony broke me at around the four-minute mark – and didn’t let up.
It was one astonishing story after another.
Each an example of unbelievable heroics, courage or dedication.
Each with a heart-wrenching video or dramatic reconstruction.
Each ending with the winner’s celebrity favourite surprising the bejeezus out of them – and another mascara stain down my puffy red cheeks.
When Dante realised the man inside the Corrie mascot was Jack P Shepherd, aka David Platt, his idol, it was telly joy.
The unsung heroes become the stars at Pride of Britain, with the celebs further down the pecking order for once.
Actors, singers and footballers forced to acknowledge that kicking a ball about isn’t quite as heroic as say... pulling three people from a burning plane wreckage.
Yes, winners Daniel Nicholson and Joel Snarr did actually do that, rescuing the survivors just seconds before it exploded.
It sounded like a disaster movie.
Nine-year-old schoolboy Ben Hedger won a Child of Courage award for steering his mum’s car across a dual carriageway when she collapsed at the wheel doing 65mph. “The car was getting faster each second,” he said.
Jaydee-Lee Dummett, seven, saved her entire family by raising the alarm after spotting signs of carbon monoxide poisoning.
And Avengers fan Aaron Hunter, who is nine, recruited Robert Downey Jr to fundraise in the hope of finding a cure for his rare terminal condition Rohhad syndrome, raising more than £300,000.
Stars in the audience were battling their tear ducts to save their immaculate make-up. Lots of stoic blinking going on.
Of course the famous faces need to be given a bit of credit for some golden TV moments.
Craig Revel Horwood broke character to give Makaton founder Margaret Walker a smile, thumbs up and a “Fab-U-Lous”. He’ll need to lie down after that.
Ant and Dec popped up behind two newspapers to give Jaydee-Lee the shock of her life.
Janet Jackson made the Lifetime Achievement winner gasp out loud, while Liam Payne made little Ben burst into tears of happiness.
Inspiring – and not remotely connected to Brexit – this was a welcome dose of perspective and human kindness.
