Davina McCall has called her Long Lost Family co-presenter Nicky Campbell her "TV husband".

The pair said filming the ITV show - which sees them reunite families - feels like a wedding day as they both spend the show with the two separate parties in the build-up to bringing them together.

Davina said: "It's like being with the bride and the groom on a wedding day - Nicky getting excited with his side and me getting excited with my side.

"We don't hang out enough. We see each other at the reunions, but we have to whisper because they're meeting in the room next door. Or we're crying behind a pillar."

But Nicky added: "There are lots of fantastic things about this programme, but one of the most fantastic things about this programme is - it's not about us."

But the pair admit they can't help getting emotionally involved in the show.

Davina's own mother left when she was aged three, and they had a difficult relationship until her death in 2008, while Nicky was adopted as a child.

"We were both in absolute pieces doing the voice-over for episode one," revealed Nicky, who tracked down his own birth parents as an adult. "You're trying to go, And then... [breaking into pretend sobs] we found them living in France...'"

Davina chipped in: "And I'm sitting in the voice-over booth going, 'Hang on, keep it running, keep it running, I want to watch Nicky's bits'. It takes us hours to do the voice-overs because we're totally immersed in the show."

:: Long Lost Family returns to ITV on Monday, July 14.