By Patrick Cremona

Published: Saturday, 19 March 2022 at 12:00 am


The BBC has revealed that an impressive total of more than £42million was raised during last night’s Comic Relief Red Nose Day broadcast.

The total figure for the evening stood at £42,790,147, with the money going towards helping the most vulnerable people in both the UK and further afield.

The three-hour charity extravaganza was hosted by Sir Lenny Henry, Paddy McGuinness, Alesha Dixon, and David Tennant, and saw all the usual hijinks as numerous famous faces popped by for a variety of fun segments.

Among those to appear were Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice, with the 2021 Strictly Come Dancing winners performing their Waltz to Ellie Goulding’s How Long Will I Love You? which had bagged them 39 points in the semi-final.

Of course, there was also plenty of comedy on show as well, with Matt Lucas and David Walliams appearing as characters from their early comedy series Rock Profile, while music came from the likes of Lola Young and the cast of the West End musical & Juliet.

Meanwhile five celebs – Call the Midwife star Helen George, EastEnders duo Tamzin Outhwaite and Nina Wadia, comedian Rosie Jones and ex Gogglebox favourite Scarlett Moffatt – put their vocal chords to the test following a 24-hour opera crash course in Comic Relief’s Comic Opera.

Unfortunately the evening was also hit by a few withdrawals owing to COVID, with Joel Dommett, Zoe Ball and Kylie Minogue all having to cancel appearances after contracting the virus.

The appeal is still open, so if you were hoping to donate but haven’t yet got round to it, you can do so by visiting the you can official Comic Relief website or by texting the word “YES” to 70210 to donate £10.

To find out what’s on telly tonight, check out our TV Guide or visit our dedicated Entertainment hub.

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