Children in Need

Every year I go to Children in Need - it has become a tradition. This year I had tickets for the second half.

Children in Need takes place in the BBC Centre in White City, conveniently close to my house. The show is broadcast from a surprisingly petite studio which gives the audience a real sense of community.

I was rather disappointed to be missing out on the star-studded first half, that included X-Factor goddess Cheryl Cole and the newly reformed Take That, singing some never heard before songs. JLS were also there, singing a number written specially for the occasion.

The second half is rather more concerned with TV stars: dancing newsreaders and appearances from characters from Britain’s favourite programmes, mostly soaps. There was an amusing clip of the Dragon’s Den judges trying their hand at cooking in an episode of Come Dine with Me.

There were a few music acts, the highlight of which was charismatic Tom Jones singing two tracks from his new album. His performance was thoroughly entertaining and impressive, considering he was singing live. The songs sounded like remakes of vintage classics and they got the whole audience dancing. Pixie Lott and Peter Andre also gave fun performances.

Of course, not losing sight of the cause, heartbreaking clips of suffering youngsters were shown throughout, often bringing me close to tears. Terry Wogan and Fearne Cotton, both TV presenting pros, took the evening in their stride and introduced acts as well as encouraging the British public to ‘dig deep’.

Later in the show some of London’s best loved musical theatre casts took to the stage to do their bit for the charity. It occurred to me that they came later in the evening because they would have come straight from doing their nightly 7.30pm shows, and must have been completely exhausted! Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Dirty Dancing and Phantom of the Opera all took part. Having seen all three musicals in the West End I was delighted to watch them again, in particular the gorgeous boys from Priscilla, who pranced across the stage with their usual fabulousness.

It is always a pleasure to be part of Children in Need, if you haven’t donated yet you can still do so here.