'Children In Need' 2017: All The Highlights From The Telethon As They Raise Record-Breaking £50m

It was a night of entertainment and emotion.
BBC

Friday (17 November) night proved to be a record-breaking one for Children In Need, as the charity raised over £50 million during their annual telethon.

It marked the highest-ever amount that has been raised on the night, and the money will now go to help disadvantaged children and young people here in the UK.

But if you missed the evening of entertainment, here’s the 10 stand-out moments that made the 2017 appeal one to remember.

The big Peter Kay announcement

‘Car Share’ fans, rejoice! Peter Kay announced his hit sitcom will be returning for two more episodes, following a huge fan petition.

One will serve as a finale to the cliffhanger series two delivered, while another will see him and Sian Gibson go without a script as they improvise the whole episode.

Check out a teaser below...

A ‘Doctor Who’ exclusive

With fans eagerly anticipating the ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas special, which will serve as Peter Capaldi’s final episode, BBC bosses gave fans a tantalising first look with a two-minute teaser.

It sees Peter’s incarnation of the Time Lord getting to grips with the very first Doctor, setting the action up nicely for the rest of the special, which will also include the first appearance of Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor.

‘EastEnders’ do ‘Les Mis’

Every year, the ‘EastEnders’ cast pull it out of the bag with their Children In Need skit, but we reckon they may have just topped all of their previous efforts with this musical tribute.

This year saw the stars of the BBC soap present their own version of ‘Les Miserables’, and it turns out they’ve actually got some hidden talents.

‘Strictly’ crowns a ‘Blue Peter’ champion

‘Strictly Come Dancing’ brought the ‘Blue Peter’ presenters past and present together for a very special edition of the BBC ballroom competition.

The likes of Mark Curry, Tim Vincent, Anthea Turner and Diane-Louise Jordan took to the floor in an attempt to win the Pudsey Glitterball trophy, but who impressed the judges and who was a dancefloor disaster? Find out below...

Sir Terry’s memory lives on

The king of Children In Need was remembered once again as Graham Norton and Joanna Lumley presented the second annual Sir Terry Wogan Fundraiser of the Year Award.

The honour was given to 17-year-old twin sisters Ellie and Abbie who have raised over £17,000 with their annual efforts to help the charity.

A ‘Call The Midwife’ sneak peek

The ‘Call The Midwife’ special is always a highlight of the Christmas Day TV schedules, and we were all in the festive mood a month early after a teaser of this year’s Yuletide episode was shown...

Ore Oduba proves he’s a triple threat

After his winning stint on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ last year, we already knew Ore Oduba could dance, but the presenter showed another string to his bow as he performed a musical tribute to Gene Kelly with a rendition of ‘Gotta Dance’.

Craig Revel Horwood takes to the stage

Ore wasn’t the only ‘Strictly’ star showing off his vocal ability on the fundraiser, as judge Craig Revel Horwood also took to the stage with the rest of the cast of the West End production of ‘Annie’.

Having taken over the role of Miss Hannigan from Miranda Hart earlier this year, Craig looked very at home in that dress and ginger wig, and it turns out he hasn’t got a bad set of pipes on him either.

Hugely emotional stories

Amid all the glitz and glamour of the telethon, there was a series of powerful films telling the stories of children in the UK who are either in need of or have benefitted from your donations.

Introduced by Olivia Colman, this incredibly emotional film told the story of a little girl called Vanessa, whose battle with a rare form of cancer sadly came to an end earlier this year.

However, it was Children In Need viewers’ generosity that helped to put a smile on her face during some of the most difficult moments of her five-year fight, and proved why it is so important we all support this charity.

The grand total reveal

After hours of entertainment and emotion, it was revealed viewers had dug extra deep this year, raising a record-breaking total of £50,168,562 by the end of the night.

Well done, everyone.

Of course you can still donate to this year’s Children In Need appeal by visiting bbc.co.uk/pudsey.

You can also text DONATE to 70410 to donate £10, or text DONATE to 70420 to donate £20. Full terms and conditions can be found on the Children In Need website.

The full Children In Need telethon is available to watch now on the BBC iPlayer.

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