Cheryl made a return to the small screen on Friday, just a month after the tragic death of her ex-partner, One Direction star Liam Payne, who passed away in October

Cheryl has made her first TV appearance following the tragic death of her ex Liam Payne. The One Direction singer tragically died last month at the age of 31 after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, reports OK!.

Cheryl, who shared seven year old Bear with Liam, was joined by her fellow Girls Aloud bandmates on Friday in a pre-recorded clip for Children in Need.

The clip, which was filmed earlier this year, showed Cheryl alongside Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh as they promoted this year’s charity single – a new release of I’ll Stand By You with Sarah Harding on lead vocals. As well as the band themselves being on the verge of tears, viewers were also incredibly emotional watching the girls’ reunion.

In the clip, Cheryl, 41, opened up about the significance of the song. In addition to becoming the band’s second ever number one single, the track gained a whole new significance following Sarah’s death three years ago.

“Back in 2004 we were really honoured to be asked to release the official Children In Need single of our cover I’ll Stand By You,” said Nicola. “There was a huge campaign that we travelled around the UK to promote the song and the amazing work Children In Need do,” added Nadine, reports the Mirror.

Meanwhile, Cheryl added: “It was our second ever number one single. We’ve played it at every tour ever since.”

Kimberley was deeply touched as she reminisced about the irreplaceable Sarah, who tragically died in 2021 at the young age of 39 due to complications from breast cancer.