Everything to expect from Children In Need 2024 as BBC charity telethon returns to screens

Children in Need is returning to screens on Friday night, and fans are in for a treat with three hours full of star-studded live entertainment and performances.

Every year, the BBC charity telethon graces our screens in a bid to raise life-changing funds for disadvantaged children and young people in the UK.

The extravaganza will air from 7pm on BBC One and iPlayer, broadcasting from MediaCity UK in Salford.

Ade Adepitan MBE, Mel Giedroyc , Rochelle Humes , Vernon Kay , Chris Ramsey and Lenny Rush will present a jam-packed evening of sketches and performances featuring well-known faces as fans have never seen them before.

Twenty years on from its original release as the BBC Children in Need single, Girls Aloud have released a brand-new version of I'll Stand By You with the late Sarah Harding featuring exclusively on lead vocals throughout.

The vocals were discovered in the Girls Aloud vault while the band were pulling together archive material for their sell-out arena tour earlier this year.

The freshly produced studio version is available from Friday as the 2024 BBC Children in Need special charity single.

A new edit of the original video featuring unseen archive footage will also be released during the BBC Children in Need Appeal Show on November 15th.

Girls Aloud members, Nadine Coyle and Kimberley Walsh, will visit a BBC Children in Need funded project, the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT) at the Royal London Hospital.

The hospital supports babies and children whose lives are permanently altered by retinoblastoma; an eye cancer which is typically diagnosed in babies and children aged under six.

Proceeds from the single will benefit BBC Children in Need projects working with children in communities across the UK facing a variety of challenges, including those supporting children with cancer.

Elsewhere, Global Superstar Bluey is taking to the Strictly Come Dancing Dancefloor for a performance.

In a unique first, Emmy Award-winning worldwide TV sensation will be transported directly into the Strictly Ballroom and will be dancing right alongside the Professional Dancers to help raise funds to support the work the charity does helping children and young people all across the UK.

Bluey will perform a playful dance that will include easy moves to dance along to so that everyone at home can join in on the fun, including The Mashed Potato, The Alligator and The Floss amongst loads more in this specially choreographed jaunty group jive to Land of 1000 Dances.

Meanwhile, Paddy McGuinness will be in the Studio to find out the total raised by his five-day Ultra Endurance Cycle Challenge, where he is cycling 300 miles on his dream childhood bike – the Raleigh Chopper - from Wrexham in Wales to the finish line in Glasgow.

There is an out-of-this-world treat for Doctor Who fans as two highly collectable pieces of television history will be put up for auction during tonight's show.

Fans will have the chance to bid for Jodie Whittaker's TARDIS, which was used on set in the 2022 Festive Special Eve of the Daleks.

They also have one night only to bid for the waitress's costume worn by Kylie Minogue when she played Astrid Peth in Voyage of the Damned in 2007.

Plus, the fifteenth Doctor himself - Ncuti Gatwa - is set to introduce world exclusive preview from the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special.

Later on, in a heartwarming collaboration for BBC Children in Need, Academy Award, Golden Globe and three time BAFTA-winning actor Gary Oldman will be reading a very special CBeebies Bedtime Story.

The story has been written especially for BBC Children in Need by Claire Taylor and is based on a true story. The story will be accompanied by illustrations from Tim Budgen.

And finally, after 8 years, our favourite TV family – the Brockmans - will reunite ahead of the Outnumbered Christmas special. T

The sketch stars Hugh Dennis, Claire Skinner, Tyger Drew-Honey, Daniel Roche and Ramona Marquez and is written and directed by the original writers.

Viewers will also get to catch up with the cast of Paddington In Peru, as Hugh Bonneville, Olivia Coleman, Antonio Banderas and Emily Mortimer decide who takes the top spot as their favourite bear: Paddington or Pudsey?

The Gladiators take part in a very special dance class led by our favourite yellow bear, and will be joined by some rather unexpected new recruits live in the studio.

And, for the first time ever, the BBC Children in Need Choir will feature children from across all parts of the UK who've been supported by BBC Children in Need funded projects.

They'll come together in the studio to sing the anthemic Take That classic Never Forget.

Elsewhere in the show, Graham Norton's Red Chair is back with a twist as a group of children from BBC Children in Need projects decide the fate of some famous faces who attempt to make the children laugh - fail and they and the chair will be tipped up.

The One Show's Challenge Squad, which features young people who have been supported by BBC Children in Need projects, culminates in two live performances in the studio, alongside some very special guests including the multi-platinum selling artist Ella Henderson.

The audience can also expect a special performance from the cast of COME ALIVE! The Greatest Showman, which is a brand-new Circus Spectacular.

Money raised during the 2024 appeal will help BBC Children in Need to continue working in communities across the four nations, funding amazing people in family centres, community spaces, youth clubs and refuges; homeless shelters, hospices and helplines.

This year, BBC Children in Need is asking the public to make life lighter for children all across the UK.

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

BBC Children in Need will air tonight at 7:00pm on BBC One and iPlayer