Children in Need

Did You Know?

• The Sir Terry Wogan Fundraiser of the Year award has been presented annually since 2016, established by Wogan's family.
• The 2025 Sidemen Charity Match raised funds for Children in Need.
• In October 2025, it was announced that Paddy McGuinness and Big Zuu would debut in the presenting line-up for the 2025 appeal show.

History

The BBC's first charity appeal was a five-minute radio broadcast on Christmas Day 1927, raising about £1,342 for four children's charities. The first televised appeal, the Children's Hour, aired in 1955, fronted by Harry Corbett and Sooty Bear, and continued annually until 1979, raising £625,836. Sir Terry Wogan debuted in the five-minute appeal in 1978 and returned in 1979. The first dedicated Children in Need telethon aired in 1980, replacing continuity segments with fundraising appeals during evening programming; presented by Wogan, Sue Lawley, and Esther Rantzen, it raised £1 million for UK-based children's charities. By 1984, the telethon became a single continuous programme. Wogan remained primary host until 2014; in 2007 it was reported he had received an annual honorarium since 1980, which he waived two days before that year's event. He stepped down due to health issues and died in 2016. The charity registered in England and Wales in 1988 and in Scotland in 2008. In 2006, Intelligent Giving published an article criticising the charity's grant-giving model and reporting. In 2020, the charity collaborated with the McLaren Formula One Team. Corporate partners include Asda, McDonald's, and others.

Criticism

A former BBC governor and chairman of the charity said he had kept Jimmy Savile away from Children in Need, having had suspicions about Savile a decade before the abuse scandal became public in 2012. In November 2006, Intelligent Giving published an article titled 'Four Things Wrong with Pudsey', describing donations as a 'lazy and inefficient way of giving' and noting that as a grant-giving charity, Children in Need would use donations to pay two sets of administration costs; it also called the quality of some public reporting 'shambolic'. In 2007, it was reported that Terry Wogan had received an annual honorarium since 1980, making him the only paid celebrity; the BBC said the payment came from BBC resources, not the charity fund, and had never been negotiated. Wogan waived his fee two days before the 2007 event. There has been concern about funding recipients: Ross Clark in The Spectator noted grants to Women in Prison and the Children's Legal Centre, which funded a student's lawsuit over wearing the jilbāb. In November 2024, Rosie Millard stepped down as Chair after protesting grants to an LGBT youth charity whose former chief had been involved in a child abuse scandal.

Telethon

The telethon features performances by singers, musical groups, and celebrities, often in sketches or musical numbers during the 6.5-hour programme. BBC One dedicates its evening schedule to the telethon, pausing for a 35-minute break at 10:00 pm for BBC News at Ten, weather, and regional news. BBC Two broadcasts complementary programming such as Mastermind Children in Need. Pre-telethon specials include DIY SOS: The Big Build, Bargain Hunt, and The One Show. Regional contributions include hourly updates from BBC England's regions, while BBC Scotland, BBC Cymru Wales, and BBC Northern Ireland historically aired extended local segments before adopting the hourly format from 2010. Since 2011, a live choir performance involving over 1,000 children across 8–10 UK locations has been a central feature.

Pudsey Bear

Pudsey Bear, the mascot of the Children in Need appeal, was created and named in 1985 by BBC graphic designer Joanna Lane. She designed a triangular logo depicting a yellow-orange teddy bear with a red bandana over one eye, a sad expression, and the lettering 'BBC' as three circular black buttons with white letters. The words 'children-in-need' appeared in lower case along the base. Lane named the bear after her hometown of Pudsey, West Yorkshire. The original design was adapted for a filmed opening title sequence, a postage stamp, and a prototype soft toy commissioned from a film and TV prop maker. About 12 identical bears were produced, one for each regional BBC Television Studio, numbered and tagged, and auctioned. The number 1 bear went to the Leeds region. Joanna Lumley appeared with one of the soft toys during the opening of Blackpool Illuminations and named Pudsey Bear the official mascot of the appeal.