CHILDREN IN NEED: DATE AND PRESENTERS REVEALED AHEAD OF 2025 TELETHON

BBC Children in Need returns with an entertainment extravaganza, live from MediaCityUK in Salford, to raise life-changing funds for children and young people across the UK.

Hosts, Mel Giedroyc, Rochelle Humes, Vernon Kay, Paddy McGuinness, Lenny Rush and Big Zuu will lead the much cherished Appeal night, presenting  a jam-packed evening of sketches, performances, and special moments - with the sole aim of raising life-changing funds for children and young people across the UK, and viewers will also get the opportunity to meet some of the young people who are helped by BBC Children in Need.

Calling on the nation to come together, everyone is invited to get involved and donate to help make a difference to the lives of children and young people in communities across the UK. Money raised will help the charity ensure there’s someone able to give food, clothes and beds to a child living without; someone qualified to talk to a child who is anxious, isolated or grieving; someone trained to mentor teenagers in communities facing inequality, violence or lack of opportunity; someone to be there for children living with serious illness, disability or carrying a load that’s just too heavy to manage alone.

The three-hour extravaganza, broadcast live from MediaCity UK in Salford will treat viewers to special Children in Need collaborations with much loved BBC titles including Strictly Come Dancing, Gladiators and The Apprentice.

Viewers can expect to see an Apprentice rarity, when the tables are turned on Lord Sugar as he faces a boardroom grilling from a tough new set of junior apprentices, and viewers will also get an exclusive taster of the highly anticipated festive episodes of The Celebrity Apprentice: Christmas Specials – where 12 celebrity candidates have been challenged with creating festive biscuits for BBC Children in Need.

And contenders get ready for a new class of Gladiator! The family favourite show is turned on it’s head when a set of mini (but powerful) Gladiators enter the arena for an epic showdown.

And The One Show returns with the Challenge Squad ready to take centre stage.

The One Show Challenge Squad are a group of inspirational young people, who have been supported by BBC Children in Need and championed by The One Show as they take on personal fundraising challenges.

This year two members of the Challenge Squad will fulfil their personal challenges in front of a studio audience on the Appeal night, with Kat performing a special duet with Sam Ryder, and Eloise throwing herself in to a musical theatre challenge, on skates with the cast of Starlight Express.

There will also be an extra special music performance from BBC Children in Need supporter, Lewis Capaldi.

A much loved and cherished element of the Appeal night, the BBC Children in Need Choir will perform a wonderful arrangement of Coldplay’s Yellow - Pudsey’s favourite colour. The choir will feature 16 children from across the 15 BBC nations and regions, all of whom have  been supported by BBC Children in Need funded projects.

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 assuming (and hoping) all goes well, Radio 2’s Sara Cox will arrive at the Salford studio, having completed her gruelling135 mile challenge, ready to find out how much she’s raised after taking on the distance of five marathons across five days. Starting on the Monday of Children in Need week, Sara’s Great Northern Marathon Challenge will see her run, jog, and walk through sweeping moorland, steep ridges, and the rolling hills of Northumberland, Durham, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, all while carrying a very special Pudsey Bear backpack.

And there are even more pawsome surprises on the way for Appeal night, but bear with us as Pudsey will reveal more details in due course. All we can say for now, is please be prepared to be furry excited.

Children In Need airs Friday 14th November at 7pm on BBC One.