Julia Roberts and Olivia Colman among stars set for Red Nose Day comedy sketches

Kate Winslet, Jamie Dornan and Catherine Tate will also provide entertainment on the night while boy band McFly will open the show on Friday.
Olivia Colman and Julia Roberts (Ian West/PA)
Naomi Clarke15 March 2024
The Weekender

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Julia Roberts, Olivia Colman, Hugh Grant and Liam Neeson are among the Hollywood actors who will make a special appearance during the star-studded Red Nose Day show for Comic Relief.

The A-listers will argue amongst each other to be named the most famous in a comedy sketch for the fundraising programme airing on BBC One on Friday.

Kate Winslet, Jamie Dornan and Catherine Tate will also provide entertainment on the night while boy band McFly will open the show with a medley of some of the most-loved Comic Relief singles from the last few years.

Titanic star Winslet will treat viewers to a late night CBeebies Bedtime Story catered to parents as she reads F***, Now There Are Two Of You by Adam Mansbach.

While Doctor Who star Tate, Vigil actress Suranne Jones, Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey and Bridget Jones’s Diary Sally Phillips will join together for a spin-off of BBC’s hit reality game show The Traitors, entitled The Traitors: The Movie.

Northern Irish actor Dornan will transform into his role as Elliot Stanley from BBC thriller The Tourist as he sits face to face with presenter Clive Myrie in the Mastermind chair.

The show will also see the return of Alan Partridge with a very special guest on his regional radio show.

While the cast of spoof comedy series W1A will reunite on the night in a sketch to find Sir Lenny Henry’s replacement as Red Nose Day host.

Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville will return to his role of hapless Ian Fletcher, who is the fictional head of values at the BBC, alongside Spaced actress Jessica Hynes as Siobhan Sharpe, Mr Bates vs The Post Office star Monica Dolan as Tracey Pritchard and Fleabag actor Hugh Skinner as Will the intern.

Sir Lenny, who co-founded the charity in 1985 alongside Love Actually screenwriter Richard Curtis, has been hosting the BBC show Red Nose Day for almost four decades but this will be his final year.

The actor and comedian will be joined by Joel Dommett, Davina McCall, Paddy McGuiness, Romesh Ranganathan, David Tennant, Maya Jama and Rosie Ramsey in hosting the fundraising show this year.

Following Ryan Gosling’s performance at the Oscars on Sunday, Sir Lenny will perform his own version of the Oscar-nominated song I’m Just Ken from the Barbie blockbuster film, entitled I’m Just Len.

Singer Jerub will also take to the stage with a song to celebrate Sir Lenny, actor Jack Black will issue a musical call to action and singer Paloma Faith will perform her new single, Enjoy yourself (The Red Nose Day Edition).

Red Nose Day returns will air on Friday on BBC One, BBC Two and BBC iPlayer from 7pm.

Money raised by Red Nose Day will go towards organisations helping to tackle some of the urgent problems faced by people here in the UK and around the world including providing shelter and shelter and offering someone to talk to in difficult times.

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