Tissues ready for The Pride of Britain Awards

Up and down the country, Marvel fans will be whipping themselves into a frenzy ahead of the November 5 release of The Eternals, featuring Kit Harington, Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie.

The blockbuster tells the story of a race of immortal beings that have superhuman powers who have secretly lived on Earth for millennia, and are forced to get the band back together and battle the evil Deviants.

There’s a lot of hair, muscle, tight-fitting costumes and maybe even the hint of a cape.

Anyone who has lived through the past couple of years, as the Covid-19 pandemic raged, knows there is another army out there, one that doesn’t have perfect make-up and hair, and definitely doesn’t wear capes.

They’re the nurses and doctors, firefighters and teachers, shopworkers and bus drivers who got up, day in and day out and did their jobs. They kept us healthy, safe, educated, fed and got those of us who had to be away from home during lockdowns where we needed to be.

They’re the small businesses who rose to the challenge of ensuring people could buy what they needed online, they’re the care workers who held the hands of the vulnerable and ailing.

They’re the charity workers who fought like hell to keep the donations coming in when everyone’s attention was elsewhere.

They’re not celebrities. They don’t do it for the glory but they are the people who, for more than 20 years, have been at the heart of this annual awards ceremony.

Nominated by the public, the winners come from all walks of life, they’re of all ages and from all over the country. They do have one thing in common, however: their achievements are awe-inspiring and a lesson to us all. The nominees and winners will say they are ordinary people, but their acts are nothing short of extraordinary.

Pride of Britain celebrates these amazing unsung heroes safe in the knowledge that for every winner, there are thousands of people all over the country who are also doing their bit to help others.

Whether it’s giving children safe places to play, looking out for neighbours, giving young people hope or simply planting flowers to make their neighbourhood just a little bit brighter, they are all our heroes too, and without their community spirit, Britain would be a much poorer place to live.

Here, celebrities and public figures including Prince Charles, Ant and Dec, Anne-Marie, Ed Sheeran, Pixie Lott, KSI, Harry Kane, Joanna Lumley OBE, Stephen Fry, Westlife, Jordan Pickford and Sharon Stone line up to salute these people in a ceremony hosted by Carol Vorderman and Ashley Banjo at the Grosvenor House in London’s Park Lane.

As well as jaw-dropping stories of bravery, selflessness and phenomenal fundraising feats, there will also be plenty of surprises and emotional moments in store, with famous faces from the worlds of film, television, music, entertainment and sport uniting to pay tribute to several ordinary members of the public who have done some truly amazing things.

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