French & Saunders reunite | ...and everything else that's happening for Red Nose Day

French & Saunders reunite

...and everything else that's happening for Red Nose Day

French and Saunders are to reunite for this year's Red Nose Day.

The pair, who have not had their own joint TV series since the 2007 retrospective A Bucket O' French And Saunders, will be presenting some of the BBC telethon on March 24.

Joe Lycett, Romesh Ranganathan and Rob Beckett will also be in the studio, representing a newer generation of comedy faces.

They will be joined by Miranda Hart, Warwick Davis, Sally Phillips, Greg Davies, Jonathan Ross and Comic Relief co-founder Sir Lenny Henry, while Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer will bring back their alter-egos The Stotts.

Another programming strand in the run-up to Red Nose Day will follow three team of celebrities driving across Kenya and Uganda delivering crucial supplies to Comic Relief-funded projects.

Russell Kane, Katy Brand, Reggie Yates, Hugh Dennis, David Baddiel and Chewing Gum's Michaela Coel are the stars involved in Red Nose Convoy.

Meanwhile, the red noses themselves have been animated for a digital comic strip game featuring the voices of Professor Stephen Hawking, Warwick Davis, Harry Hill and more.

Professor Hawking said: 'I'm a world renowned scientist who has shaped our understanding of the universe and I am being asked to make snot jokes. I must really like this charity.'

This year's noses are in the shape of characters Dr. Nose, Sneezecake, The Snorcerer, Snuffles, DJ Boogie, Norse Nose, Snootankhamun, Sniffer and Nose-it-all! They are sold in bags so people won't know what they are buying, with a few containing a rare silver Frankinose.

Also online, the Comic Relief YouTube channel will feature an series of original comedy sketches, written by and starring a host of up-and-coming talent.

Other parts of the BBC show will feature an unnamed 'international music megastar' collaborating with the stars of People Just Do Nothing; an appearance from Mrs Brown; and Graham Norton welcoming a gaggle of guests to a 'ludicrously long' super-sized sofa.

Comic Relief is also nurturing a future generation of comedy stars as it launches the Red Nose Day Comedy Classroom, a new joke writing competition and literacy campaign for kids. The best jokes – as judged by a panel including Richard Curtis and Miranda Hart – will be performed live on Blue Peter.

Famous faces including David Walliams and Ellie Taylor are modelling the new official Red Nose Day T-shirts, available from TK Maxx s from next month.

Published: 31 Jan 2017

Live comedy picks

We see you are using AdBlocker software. Chortle relies on advertisers to fund this website so it’s free for you, so we would ask that you disable it for this site. Our ads are non-intrusive and relevant. Help keep Chortle viable.