Comic Relief is back for 2023, broadcasting live from Salford's very own MediaCity.
Taking place tonight (Friday March 17), a host of famous faces will be featuring in sketches and live performances, all for a good cause. Two tickets to the sold-out Eurovision Song Contest grand final will also be given away as part of a prize draw for Red Nose Day.
The week-long Liverpool Calling prize draw was announced by Zoe Ball on her BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show on Monday. One winner will also enjoy a meet-and-greet with Eurovision presenters Rylan and Scott Mills alongside their tickets, as well as travel expenses and a one-night stay at a top hotel in the host city of Liverpool.
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This year the fundraiser will support people struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and tackle issues such as homelessness, mental health problems and food poverty. Meanwhile a fresh design of the charity's iconic red nose was revealed.
Created by former Apple guru Sir Jony Ive. Made almost entirely from plant-based materials, the new nose starts as a tiny, flat crescent that springs into a honeycomb paper sphere when opened. Several famous faces have been sporting their newly designed charity noses, including Sir Lenny Henry, Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden, Jay Blades, AJ Odudu and children’s author and DJ Greg James.
Comic Relief was co-founded by Richard Curtis and Sir Lenny Henry in 1985, building on the success of Band Aid and Live Aid - to raise money via comedy.
Read on to find out what time the telethon begins, who is hosting the night and all the special guests and sketches you can expect - although, there are bound to be a few surprises.
What time is Comic Relief on?
Comic Relief starts at 7pm on BBC One and can be streamed on BBC iPlayer. The programme will be on air for three hours, finishing at around 10pm.
Who are the hosts?
Presenter AJ Odudu will be joined by actor David Tennant, comedian Joel Dommett, Top Gear's Paddy McGuinness and radio DJ Zoe Ball to host Comic Relief.
What kind of sketches are expected?
Danny Dyer and Dame Mary Berry will appear in a parody of The Traitors, while singers Tom Grennan and Zara Larsson will deliver musical performances of their new singles during the programme.
The Traitors sketch will see Jennifer Saunders, Stephen Merchant, Rosie Jones and contestants Maddy and Wilf from series one gather for a roundtable. In a twist, the show’s host Claudia Winkleman will be played by Dawn French before the true traitor is revealed to viewers.
Grennan will sing his single You Are Not Alone, while Swedish singer Larsson will be performing her new track Can’t Tame Her. The cast of Mrs Doubtfire The Musical will also deliver their first UK performance of Make Me A Woman from the new stage show.
The BBC also confirmed Kylie Minogue will appear in a sketch with the cast of BBC sitcom Ghosts. The pop superstar and her live agent, played by Tanya Moodie, arrive at haunted Button House to see if it is a suitable concert venue, shocking the supernatural inhabitants.
It was previously announced that Sir Tony Robinson will return as the character of Baldrick to read a bedtime story and Dermot O’Leary will team up with Jamie Demetriou’s Stath Charalambos from Stath Lets Flats for a sketch.
Graham Norton, along with Lulu and Sam Ryder, are set to join a mock judging panel, where they will take auditions from a variety of famous faces in search of the UK’s next Eurovision entrant. The sketch will feature auditions, of varying quality, from the likes of actor Jamie Dornan, Spandau Ballet star Tony Hadley, and comedian Miranda Hart.
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