Red Nose Day fundraising total passes £21m

More than £21.4 million has been raised so far for Red Nose Day, former England footballer Jill Scott has announced.

“Thank you so much to all of you, you are brilliant,” host Davina McCall told viewers after the live reveal on the annual fundraising programme.

Red Nose Day, hosted at Salford’s MediaCity, kicked off with a performance by Catherine Tate as her character Nan, and the star-studded show featured a series of live performances and sketches to raise money for Comic Relief.

BBC Radio 1 DJ Greg James appeared to speak about his 1,000km cycling challenge, which saw him travel from Weymouth to Edinburgh over eight days and raising £4,225,939 for Comic Relief.

The broadcaster said that when the Prince of Wales briefly joined him on his journey and took a seat on the back of his tandem bicycle, he had “never held on more tightly”.

He joked: “Can you imagine what would have happened to me if he fell off? It would have been the end – maybe the end of Comic Relief.”

Comedian Katherine Ryan hosted the fundraiser later in the evening and took aim at Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor during her monologue, saying she had to tone down her jokes because it was not past the watershed.

She quipped: “You’ve had a lucky escape if you used to be a prince.”

Earlier in the evening TV presenter Joel Dommett, known as the face of ITV’s The Masked Singer, took part in a parody of the show called The Masked Finger which saw a giant finger revealed as social media star AngryGinge.

Red Nose Day included sketches inspired by some of the biggest shows on the BBC, including Amandaland and The Traitors, which featured a number of actors, comedians and celebrities.

In one of the sketches, titled The Bank Job, Sir Idris Elba featured alongside celebrities including TV presenters Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary and comedian Chris McCausland as they attempted a heist to raise money for Comic Relief.

Other stars in the sketch include EastEnders actresses Natalie Cassidy and Shona McGarty, TV presenter Stephen Mulhern and YouTuber Niko Omilana.

A series of appeal films, including one fronted by Welsh actor Michael Sheen, were shown during the show, reminding viewers of the purpose of Red Nose Day and how donations help support people in the UK and beyond.

Comic Relief helps to support communities by providing food, healthcare and shelter to those who need it most.

Sir Lenny Henry co-founded the charity with Love Actually screenwriter Richard Curtis in 1985.

Comic Relief: Funny For Money is available to watch on BBC iPlayer and BBC One.