This Morning host Cat Deeley became tearful on air as she was surprised with a personalised poem marking her 48th birthday.

British poet Pam Ayres read out a piece she had written for Deeley.

Wednesday’s show opened on ITV with co-host Ben Shephard presenting Deeley with a caterpillar-shaped chocolate cake with a photo of her face.

Deeley said her family had woken with her at 5.30am to give her birthday cards.

Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard host This Morning (Ian West/PA)

“I got up at 5.30, there were cards made,” she said.

“There was one where we were all swimming underwater and they’d made it.

“It said, ‘take a deep breath, Mom, you’re getting old’. They thought it was the funniest thing on the planet.”

Shephard and Deeley presented their first show as the new permanent presenters of This Morning in March.

The duo took over from Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, who co-hosted ITV1’s flagship morning programme together for 14 years before they both left in 2023.