The Children In Need 2017 charity event has raised more than £50.1 million in another record-breaking year.
A total of £50,168,562 was donated to the cause thanks to Friday’s star-studded TV appeal – eclipsing last year’s figure of £46.6 million and marking the highest on-the-night total to date.
Announcing the amount, presenter Rochelle Humes said: “Sir Terry would be so unbelievably proud.”
The veteran broadcaster hosted the annual BBC event for 35 years until 2015 when poor health forced him to pull out. He passed away in January last year after a battle with cancer.
The charity spectacular delighted audiences with a number of TV treats, including a sneak peek of this year’s Call The Midwife Christmas special, a teaser from the festive episode of Doctor Who, which will see Peter Capaldi’s final outing as the Time Lord, and a surprise revelation from Peter Kay that popular comedy show Car Share would return for a series finale.
There was also a celebrity edition of The Weakest Link, won by Holby City star Chizzy Akudolu, and performances from stars such as Rita Ora, Ore Oduba, The Vamps, Jason Derulo, Beverley Knight, Amber Riley and Cassidy Janson.
Former Blue Peter presenter Mark Curry was named winner of the Children In Need Strictly Come Dancing special after impressing judges with his high kicks, while the cast of EastEnders donned old-fashioned costumes for a medley of classic musical numbers in Albert Square, including tracks from Oliver!, Les Miserables and Mary Poppins.
In a Children In Need first, the cast of Countryfile also had a go at their own medley, opting for hit country tunes from John Denver, Dolly Parton and Nancy Sinatra.
A number of other BBC programmes also helped raise money for the charity, including a massive £7.7 million from Radio 2.
A grand total of £7,697,361 was raised after a record-breaking auction of once-in-a-lifetime events were sold off on Chris Evans’s Breakfast Show, including dinner with Take That, a one-off Peter Kay show, a foodie experience with TV chef Tom Kerridge and a meeting with Cher.
The generous offers helped the station smash its 2016 contribution to the Children In Need Appeal, which reached a final total of £5,813,784.
Meanwhile, The One Show concluded its traditional 500-mile rickshaw ride with presenter Matt Baker at the helm, totting up a record-breaking total of £5,063,230.
Actress Joanna Lumley presented the Sir Terry Wogan Fundraiser Of The Year Award – in memory of the show’s late and much-loved presenter – and Katie Melua performed this year’s Children In Need charity single: her rendition of Fields Of Gold.
Simon Antrobus, chief executive of BBC Children in Need, said: “People across the UK should feel really proud of what has been achieved.
“The remarkable generosity shown tonight really will go on to make a lasting, positive difference to the lives of disadvantaged children and young people all across the UK. Thank you.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here