The Live Show

A live entertainment extravaganza with three-hours of comedy, music and surprise guests, all to help raise vital funds for BBC Children in Need.

Ade Adepitan MBE, Mel Giedroyc, Jason Manford, Chris Ramsey, Lenny Rush and Alex Scott MBE present a jam-packed evening of sketches and performances featuring well-known faces as you’ve never seen them before.

Special brand-new sketches include:

A special-one-off Doctor Who scene starring the fourteenth Doctor, David Tennant. Fans can also catch a glimpse behind the scenes of making the scene in an exclusive episode of Doctor Who: Unleashed, which will be available on BBC iPlayer.

It’s mayhem in the MasterChef kitchen as John Torode and Gregg Wallace are joined by some of Britain’s best-loved puppets all competing to cook and create a dish to win over the judges. Who will be crowned MasterChef Puppet Champion for BBC Children in Need?

The race is on for three pairs of TV characters in Race Across Yorkshire, a parody of the hugely successful Race Across The World. With cameos from Yorkshire icons and pitstops to earn cash along the way, who will make it to the town of Pudsey first?

In the studio, singer songwriter JERUB takes to the stage to perform his latest single ‘There Till The End’, the UK’s Junior Eurovision act STAND UNIQU3 sing their anthemic entry ‘Back to Life’, and Leigh-Anne who – having performed on BBC Children in Need with Little Mix many times – performs her track ‘My Love’ for the first time on TV.

The cast of the brand-new stage musical ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ perform a medley of songs from Stock Aitken Waterman acts (Kylie Minogue, Rick Astley etc.) including classic hit ‘Especially For You’, with a very special duo taking on one of the trio’s biggest hits…

To celebrate Disney’s 100th anniversary, viewers will be treated to a British TV debut performance from Walt Disney Animation Studios upcoming film Wish, sung by West-End musical star Merryl Ansah. The amazing BBC Children in Need Choir is back, drawn from the Nations and Regions of the UK, to sing a heart-felt rendition of ‘You Raise Me Up’.

The One Show’s Challenge Squad, which features young people who’ve been supported by BBC Children in Need projects will culminate in live performances with special guest performers.

Celebrities take on The Graham Norton Show’s infamous Red Chair where a group of children have their hands on the lever to decide their fate.

The total raised by the Radio 2 challenge will be revealed – Vernon Kays’ ULTRA Ultramarathon Challenge.

Money raised through BBC Children in Need’s 2023 Appeal will help children and young people overcome the additional challenges they currently face, including supporting children and young people living in poverty, providing emergency support to families in crisis, providing comfort to children feeling sad, lost and alone, helping children overcome social injustice and supporting children to feel safe and secure.

Throughout the show, appeal films feature some of those whose lives have been changed through the support of BBC Children in Need, and the project workers who work tirelessly to help them.

More highlights from the evening will be announced in the coming weeks.

BBC Children in Need will air at 7:00pm on BBC One and will be available to catch up on BBC iPlayer.