The Great British public have once again gone above and beyond to raise a phenomenal £47,886,382 for BBC Children in Need’s 2019 Appeal.
Live on BBC One and Two from 7.30pm last Friday (15th November) until the early hours of Saturday morning, the 2019 Appeal show marked the crescendo of this year’s fundraising activities for BBC Children In Need with a special night of family entertainment to help raise money for disadvantaged children and young people in communities across the UK.
TV favourites Ade Adepitan and Tess Daly kicked off proceedings, before Mel Giedroyc and Graham Norton took over ahead of Rochelle and Marvin Humes, who were joined by comedian Tom Allen. All seven presenters saw the stage came to life with performances from Louis Tomlinson, Alfie Boe and Michael Ball, and Westlife.
A surprise performance on the night came from Adrian Lester OBE, who performed a stunning rendition of Stevie Wonder’s I Wish, which features on BBC Children In Need’s Got It Covered album. Last month, BBC Children In Need: Got It Covered was broadcast on BBC One. The 90-minute entertainment documentary brought to life the making of the album from a stellar line-up including Helena Bonham Carter CBE, Jim Broadbent, Olivia Colman CBE, Shaun Dooley, Luke Evans, Suranne Jones, Adrian Lester OBE, Himesh Patel, David Tennant and Jodie Whittaker.
A very special highlight during the show saw EastEnders’ stars bidding to win the Pudsey Glitter Ball trophy. The special saw Ricky Champ, Louisa Lytton, Maisie Smith and Rudolph Walker OBE taking to the dancefloor with the Strictly pros, with Maisie Smith and professional partner Kevin Clifton lifting the 2019 Pudsey Glitterball trophy.
Viewers were treated to a behind the scenes mockumentary about the making of Armando Iannucci’s latest film – A Personal History Of David Copperfield. The hilarious sketch saw the cast – including Daisy Cooper and Paul Whitehouse playing up, resulting in Armando calling in some help from a group of children from the Big Yellow Bear Production Company.
A moving VT saw England’s Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling join TV presenter Mark Wright in surprising children from the England Amputee Football Association, one of the many organisations benefiting from support from BBC Children in Need.
Another very special moment on the show saw an incredible young girl who has been supported by a BBC Children In Need funded project being surprised live on stage by Doctor Who stars Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill and the Doctor herself, Jodie Whittaker.
There was slime and stunts galore when presenters Sam and Mark brought children’s TV favourite Crackerjack back for BBC Children In Need.
The show also saw the finale of The One Show’s Rickshaw Challenge. The challenge saw Matt Baker and six inspirational young people who have benefited from BBC Children In Need funding, cycle the rickshaw 400 miles from Holyhead to BBC Elstree Studios, raising a remarkable £5.5 million along the way. Sir Tom Hunter and Lady Marion Hunter joined the team on the stage to celebrate the incredible total. The Hunter Foundation (THF) had pledged to give 40p for every £1 donated by the general public to the Rickshaw Challenge, but generously announced that they were donating £3 million, bringing The Rickshaw Challenge’s 2019 total to a whopping £8.5 million.
Another standout moment from the show saw popular YouTube star, Colin Furze, being challenged by two of the cast of Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker – Daisy Ridley and John Boyega – to make a real working landspeeder from the first ever Star Wars to mark the culmination of the biggest film sagas of all time. Young people from BBC Children In Need funded projects supported him as he worked to get it ready for appeal night.
Elsewhere, Rylan Clark-Neal joined the show to celebrate Radio 2’s incredible fundraising total for 2019, an amazing £2 million. Earlier this week, bona fide karaoke king – Rylan Clark-Neal, undertook a 24 hour non-stop karaoke challenge to raise money for BBC Children In Need, raising a spectacular £1 million which contributed to Radio 2’s fantastic total.
In a fitting tribute to the charity’s Life-President, the show also saw the presentation of the fourth Sir Terry Wogan Fundraiser of the Year Award. The accolade recognises the charity’s fundraisers, of whom Sir Terry was a huge champion, and went to siblings Austin and Esther who undertake Quadrathlon’s for BBC Children in Need. Twelve year-old Austin has Muscular Dystrophy but is passionate about supporting other children, and alongside Esther, has raised over £6,000 for BBC Children in Need in recent years.
At 10pm viewers switched over to BBC Two for a very special Dragons’ Den Does I’ll Get This: Children In Need Special. The special saw current Dragons’, Peter Jones, Tej Lalvani, Touker Suleyman and Sara Davies, as well as former Dragon Sarah Willingham, meet at a restaurant for a fancy meal where they played a series of games between courses, which resulted in the loser – Touker Suleyman – having to pay for everyone’s dinner and make a donation to BBC Children In Need – however the rest of the generous Dragons’ decided to match Touker’s donation, raising even more money for the charity!
Later in the evening, BBC Children in Need took over The Graham Norton Show studio for a special edition of the Big Red Chair. Graham’s special guests were three young carers who had control of the famous lever and ultimately decided whether Tom Allen, Sara Cox, Alex Jones, Sophie Raworth, Anneka Rice and Danny Rose’s jokes were good enough to let them walk, or whether they got flipped.
Marvin and Rochelle Humes hosted a BBC Children In Need special of their Saturday night music quiz, The Hit List, featuring a number of artists that have previously performed on official BBC Children in Need official singles. Hip-hop artist Wretch 32 was paired with former JLS member JB Gill, Heidi Range from the Sugababes competed with Girls Aloud’s Nadine Coyle and Michelle Heaton from Liberty X was paired with Blue’s very own Antony Costa. The triumphant duo on the night was Nadine and Michelle.
Celebrities including Cheryl, Danny Dyer, Rupert Grint, Nadiya Hussain, Felicity Jones, Vicky McClure, Himish Patel, Eddie Redmayne, Andrew Scott, Gareth Southgate and David Tennant reminded viewers about where their money goes with stories of the children and young people who have received support from BBC Children in Need funded projects, thanks to the generosity of people across the UK and their fundraising efforts.