TIME IS ON DAVINA’S SIDE AFTER THE BIG 5-0 –
Her TV shows change fortunes and transform lives. Now Davina McCall has revealed how she just couldn’t get one particular telly participant out of her head.
This Time Next Year sees people from all over the country share with viewers what they want to change in their lives in 12 months.
During that time, they’ll aim to fulfil their dreams of losing weight, meeting an unknown family member, having children or finally realising a lifelong personal ambition and viewers will see the outcome.
All of the tales are emotional, intriguing or inspirational, but it was the transformation one woman called Jayne was hoping to make that struck the deepest chord with Davina.
After a seemingly innocuous encounter with a dog, the bubbly, attractive mum developed massive problems that led to her losing her nose. She was left with just a hole in the middle of her face.
“It’s a very hard thing to watch but I think that’s what’s so brave of Jayne,” Davina told iN10.
“How horrific it must have been to experience that. And it’s so sad that such a vibrant woman found her whole world becoming so small because she didn’t want to go anywhere or see anybody she didn’t know.
“She was worried about the looks she’d get or the way that people would treat her. So she showed remarkable guts to step out in front of the cameras in our studio.
“I found her profoundly inspiring. Seeing her a year later, with her new nose and like a completely different person, was amazing.”
Davina says she was also captivated by a mother and daughter who wanted to lose 15 stone between them and a little girl, born profoundly deaf, who was awaiting a cochlear implant to allow her to hear.
The format of the show has the individual walk through one door and reappear through another, seemingly in an instant but actually a full year later, to explain how they got on.
“It means that we get instant gratification, which we all love,” said Davina. “I’ll watch like anyone else to get that moment because I have to wait a year to interview them.
“I spend a lot of time over that time wondering how they are getting on. I must have thought about Jayne weekly.
“I think it was because she was going through life totally fine, kids, husband and then something as innocuous as a dog bumping into your nose changed everything.
“Seeing her blossom and being a part of that was quite humbling.”
Davina has had her own life upheaval in recent months.
Her 17-year marriage to Matthew Robertson came to a sudden end late last year, with Davina confirming the split in November. The couple have three children, Holly, 16, Tilly, 14, and Chester, 11, who are obviously their prime focus.
But Davina hasn’t been hanging around and feeling sorry for herself. She turned 50 soon afterwards and says there’s no slowing down.
“I am as busy as ever,” she confirmed. “You’ll have to wait a while before I’m no longer on your screens. I have no intention of bowing out anytime soon.
“When I’m offered something it’s generally things that I love straight away that I want to do. Things that are a no-brainer. With This Time Next Year, when they said that I’d cross the set and it’d be a year later I was, ‘ Yip, definitely. I’m doing it!’
“I thought it was magic formula to be able to see what had happened in that year so quickly.”
A third series of This Time Next Year is already in production. And we’ll soon see more of hit Long Lost Families, which she presents with Nicky Campbell.
As we speak she’d just been filming for another “amazing reunion” and it’s a show that’s close to her heart.
“I don’t cry very often in life but I always cry at Long Lost Families,” added Davina.
“It’s like an appointment to cry, I actually really enjoy it. I get my box of tissues and my cup of tea and just sit down and really wail. I’m a real softy!”
This Time Next Year, ITV, Tuesday, 8pm.