This year’s event, which featured sketches based on the popular TV show The Traitors and Eurovision, raised over £34m. The star-studded fundraiser included appearances from famous faces such as Dame Mary Berry, Danny Dyer, and Jamie Dornan, with hosts Paddy McGuiness, David Tennant, and Zoe Ball announcing the amount raised during the live show.

The money raised during the event will be used to support people struggling with various issues such as the cost of living crisis, food poverty, mental health problems, and homelessness. The fundraising effort of Comic Relief was founded by Sir Lenny Henry and Richard Curtis in 1985 with the aim to end child poverty in the UK and around the world. Sir Lenny was not present at this year’s event, but he appeared in a pre-recorded appeal to help starving communities in Africa. During the opening credits, the co-founder regenerated into Doctor Who star David Tennant, who acknowledged the absence of Sir Lenny in the live show.

The 2023 show hosted at Salford’s Media City, was presented by AJ Odudu, Joel Dommett, and Paddy McGuinness, and included live performances from Zara Larsson and Tom Grennan. In the lead-up to Friday night’s live show, various celebrities began fundraising, such as BBC Morning Live’s Gethin Jones dancing for 24 hours, and Radio 1’s Arielle Free taking part in a cycling challenge.

The live TV event also featured a video appeal from the Prince of Wales, in which he met homeless people helped by Comic Relief. Prince William also shared his concerns about the homelessness situation in the UK, expressing his mother’s disappointment that the country has not made much progress in tackling the issue.

The night was filled with various sketches and performances, including a parody of The Traitors featuring real contestants Maddy and Wilf alongside Dame Mary Berry and Danny Dyer. Moreover, there was an appearance from Kylie Minogue, while Blackadder star Sir Tony Robinson read a bedtime story as the character Baldrick. The event also paid homage to Eurovision, featuring Graham Norton, Lulu, and last year’s UK Eurovision entrant Sam Ryder, who played a mock judging panel looking for the next UK star to enter the competition.