Comic Relief 2025, review: The weakest telethon in recent memory

Telegraph

21-03-2025

It was that time of year again. Comic Relief: Funny for Money (BBC One) celebrated its 40th birthday not, as host Joel Dommett suggested, 'by getting grey hairs everywhere and contemplating Botox'. Instead it marked the milestone with the weakest schedule-filler in recent memory.
Live from Salford's Media City, the backslapping luvvies were out in force. The resulting red-nosed epic sprawled across almost five hours, alternating between disappointing sketches and heart-tugging stories to get viewers digging deep. Why not exploit the country's plentiful comedic talent, rather than rely on tired repeats? Why not have it helmed by stand-ups, rather than generic rent-a-presenters? What was once must-see TV has been reduced to a shadow of its former self. No wonder ratings and donations are down.
Nodding to its 1985 origins with a loose 'Back to the Eighties' theme, the telethon kicked off with a medley of period-appropriate pop acts. Kajagoogoo's Limahl, T'Pau's Carol Vorderman and Roachford busted out doddery renditions of their signature hits as if on the cruise ship circuit. Hardly catnip for younger viewers. A slow start became a painful one when the first skit saw Chabuddy G from People Just Do Nothing, aka actor Asim Chaudhry, joining the Gladiators.
He gave himself the Gladiator name of 'Girth, Wind & Fire', cracked copious flatulence gags and beat Bionic in a Duel but forgot to include any actual jokes. I dread to think how many viewers switched off before festivities had barely begun.
As always, plentiful BBC properties received the skit treatment. A Strictly Come Dancing spoof saw the ballroom blockbuster's professional line-up fall victim to inclusivity quotas and forced to let amateurs join its ranks. Rachel Parris and Russell Kane landed the gig and delivered a game enough routine, even if Claudia Winkleman and Craig Revel Horwood taught them a thing or two about timing.
The night's comedic high point was 'Not Going Beyond Paradise', a mash-up between sitcom Not Going Out and detective drama Beyond Paradise. Starring both of actress Sally Bretton's on-screen husbands, Lee Mack and Kris Marshall, it was a playfully daft tale of doppelgängers, slapstick and cosy crime tropes.
The much-hyped Oasis reunion was lampooned with Inbetweeners stars James Buckley and Joe Thomas donning bushy monobrows to portray the Gallagher brothers. Piers Morgan popped up to play the villainous, demonically cackling CEO of a certain ticketing site. Talk about typecast. It was the most heavily trailed segment but fell flat, repeatedly relying on swearing as a punchline.
Munya Chawawa attempted to become Brian Cox's understudy in West End play The Score. The no-nonsense Succession star gave him short shrift, possibly exacerbated by the underpowered script. It was hard to tell how much of the ensuing awkwardness was intentional. The feeble quality of the fresh sketches was only emphasised by reruns of Comic Relief classics starring Rik Mayall, Mr Bean, French and Saunders, Smithy from Gavin & Stacey and Billy Connolly's bare bottom.
Less light-hearted but equally worthy was a five-minute mini-episode of EastEnders, focusing on Phil Mitchell. In recent months, the gravel-throated hard man has been suffering from depression and psychosis. The storyline reached crisis point on the soap's 40th anniversary when he attempted suicide and was sectioned. A stagey playlet set at the mental health unit saw Phil bond with a fellow patient. Produced in collaboration with the Brandon Centre, another Comic Relief-funded charity, it was quietly powerful and sensitively handled.
This was the first Red Nose Day since the departure of the charity's co-founder but Sir Lenny Henry popped up in a VT package, reflecting on the past 40 years. Catching up with some people helped by Comic Relief-funded projects in Africa, he trotted out his now-familiar catchphrase: 'Forget geography. These are your neighbours. This is your doorstep.'
Highlights from celebrity charity challenges tackled over the past week included double amputee Billy Monger's Ironman triathlon in the Hawaiian heat and Radio 1 DJ Jamie 'Biscuits' Laing completing five ultra-marathons by running 150 miles from London to Salford. Laing limped on-stage to hear that he'd heroically raised more than £2m.
Proceedings were steered by a tag-team of eight co-hosts. Talk about BBC over-staffing. Lined up on-stage, they looked more like an ageing chorus line than a coherent presenting team. Dommett, Rylan and Davina McCall were the pick of the bloated bunch. Musical interludes punctuated proceedings with the regularity of commercial breaks. The Sugababes wowed but were Rock Choir and Titanique really the best the bookers could do?
Come the 10 O'Clock News, the action switched to BBC Two for edgier post-watershed material. Tom Allen and AJ Odudu oversaw a 'late 'n' live'-style cabaret beset by technical glitches. Pontypridd stand-up Paul Hilleard, winner of last year's BBC New Comedy Award, delivered a fitfully amusing deadpan set. This was followed by a return to the flagship channel for 40 Years Of Funny, a retrospective romp through the archives with Emma Willis and Asim Chaudhry.
Comic Relief reached its 40th year with too many creaking joints and too few aching sides. This frustratingly flat spectacle might have raised millions of pounds for charitable causes. It just didn't raise many laughs.