Stars set to flock to Salford as annual Children in Need show promises exciting line-up

A star-studded celebrity line-up will descend on Salford for the annual Children in Need appeal show next week. 

The BBC has revealed that Radio 2 presenter Vernon Kay, The Saturdays star Rochelle Humes, Paralympian Ade Adepitan, presenter Mel Giedroyc, comedian and podcaster Chris Ramsay, and actor Lenny Rush will host the main fundraising programme from Media City.

Since the BBC’s first appeal in 1980, Children in Need has raised more than £1bn for charities and projects, providing essential funding for family centres, community spaces, youth clubs and refuges, homeless shelters, hospices and helplines across the UK.

And this year, the charity has called for fans to support the cause highlighting that “only 1 in 8 organisations who ask for money can be funded.”

The three-hour show will be filled with entertaining sketches, musical acts and celebrity surprises.

Doctor Who fans will be treated with a special auction as well as the 15th incarnation of the Time Lord, Ncuti Gatwa, introducing an exclusive preview from the upcoming Christmas special.

Stars of the BBC’s Gladiators will feature in the show “as you’ve never seen them before” while the Strictly Come Dancing professionals will be joined by a “global superstar”, the BBC has said.

Pop star Ella Henderson will also sing a duet with 17-year-old Tanisha, who has been a hospice ambassador since her father’s death.

Tanisha will be part of The One Show’s Challenge Squad with other young people who have been assisted by charity funding from the BBC fundraiser and have awe-inspiring stories.

Graham Norton’s iconic red chair returns as famous faces attempt to make a group of children from Children in Need projects laugh, if they fail the chair will be tipped up.

A special performance from the cast of the circus spectacular Come Alive! The Greatest Showman will take place, before a unique Dragons’ Den pitch and a special CBeebies Bedtime Story.

The musical action will continue with the BBC Children in Need Choir, featuring children from across the UK who have been supported by funds raised, coming together in the studio to sing the classic Take That song Never Forget.

The total raised by Paddy McGuiness’s BBC Radio 2 ultra endurance challenge, which will see him cycle through three nations and eight counties to raise funds for children in need, will be revealed.

This year’s edition of the Children in Need appeal show will air from 7 pm.