Teddington choir leader Detective Seb Valentine will perform with his Blue Light Symphony Orchestra in the ITV Christmas special ‘A Night for the Emergency Services’.

The programme (airing on December 20) celebrates the heroes behind the uniforms to show appreciation and thanks for the incredible work they do.

Following a particularly hard year of budget cuts and tragedies like Manchester Arena, Grenfell Tower, Borough Market and Parsons Green, the focus this year is on mental health.

Detective Valentine said: “It’s going to be great for us because we’re hoping to decrease stigma of mental health in the emergency services.

“Mind have done surveys and they found that people who work in the emergency services are more likely to suffer but less likely to receive help for it. We hope this is going to raise money for them.”

According to Detective Valentine, there’s been an increase in the police force with needing time off for stress and other mental health problems.

He said: “Stress is a problem, especially with people being expected to do more with less.”

Detective Valentine added that poor mental health is a deep problem in our society, with 90% of the prison population suffering from some form of mental illness and women with mental health issues being ten times more likely to be assaulted.

‘A Night for the Emergency Services’ will be presented by Ashley Banjo and Diversity and features talented members of the emergency services showing off an array of impressive skillsets.

The Blue Light Symphony Orchestra will perform in the show’s finale, accompanying Diversity, along with Britain's Got Talent winner Tokio Myers and the Cheshire Fire Choir.

Made up entirely of emergency service personnel, the Blue Light Symphony Orchestra was founded by Detective Valentine in 2016.

Detective Valentine is a baritone and studied singing at the Royal College of Music.