One Direction were given a fright after they were roped into helping a pregnant woman go through labor as part of a TV prank.

Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson decided to have some fun at the expense of bandmates Harry Styles, Liam Payne and Niall Horan, who flew into a panic thinking a TV producer named only as Stephanie was about to give birth before their Nickelodeon interview.

The mom-to-be, who was actually an actress wearing a fake baby bump, began screaming in 'pain', shouting, "The baby is coming! The baby is coming right now!" as she collapsed into Styles' arms.

Payne then placed a frantic call to Stephanie's husband, telling him, "I'm with your wife, she's pregnant and she might be giving birth! You want to be here!"

As the boys crowded around the screaming actress, she then gave up the stunt by exclaiming, "I refuse to give birth on this floor... because you all have been pranked by Nickelodeon!"

An embarrassed Styles later told viewers, "I was actually thinking this is going to be a great press story - One Direction delivers child! I can't believe we got pranked."