From singing newsreaders to saucy chefs, Children In Need has been putting the fun in fundraising since 1980. Jaine Blackman looks back at its most memorable moments

Have you been accosted by fundraisers in fancy dress in your office or on the streets of Oxford today?

Yes, it’s that time of year again, when newsreaders step out from behind their desks, soap stars get to show off their musical theatre training, and celebrities and mere mortals get the chance to do something entertaining, and preferably a bit embarrassing, for a good cause.

Children In Need has provided audiences with some eye-popping viewing over the years (we’re not just talking about Jeremy Vine in suspenders). So as the telethon turns 35, we remember the moments that enthralled us... and the bits that had us wishing we could borrow Pudsey’s eye-patch.

Ready Steady Cook’s Full Monty

Celebrity cooks including Ainsley Harriott, James Martin and Antony Worrall Thompson took the term Naked Chef literally in 1998, when they performed the Full Monty routine on stage. Viewers were whipped into a frenzy (or left in need of a good defrosting) as the kitchen gurus stripped down to red satin thongs, with only a hat to protect their modesty. Some took to the dance routine better than others, however: poor Worrall Thompson later confessed to struggling with the “thrusting moment”.

Katie and Peter’s duet

When Disney’s Aladdin sang about A Whole New World, presumably he didn’t envisage one where Katie Price would be showing off her vocal skills on live TV. In 2005, the glamour model belted out the song on Children In Need with then-husband Peter Andre by her side in a matching bright white outfit. The performance may have been cheesier than a lorry-load of Cheddar, but a duets album followed, and the pair returned a year later to sing again.

Terry Wogan’s Floral Dance

Sir Terry took dad dancing to new heights (or depths) when he gave his beloved The Floral Dance, the folksy single which made it to number 21 in the charts back in 1978, a hip-hop spin in 1995.

The newsreaders

Susanna Reid’s first introduction to sequins and fancy footwork wasn’t last year’s Strictly Come Dancing; it was the annual Children In Need newsreaders’ performance. Over the years, we’ve seen the BBC News team bodypop with the Diversity troupe, strut their stuff to Mamma Mia! in skin-tight satin and show their sultry side in a Chicago medley. But the performance which will forever be etched in our memory (whether we like it or not), is their take on The Rocky Horror Show, when Jeremy Vine showed off a fine pair of pins in suspenders and stilettos.

Joanna Lumley strips off

It takes a lot to rattle Terry Wogan, but Joanna Lumley did just that when she showed off her Absolutely Fabulous physique in a 1983 skit. After promising that swimmer Sharron Davies was poised and ready to take her clothes off in Plymouth, the link encountered some “technical difficulties”, so the actress peeled down her little black dress to reveal some even littler black lingerie.

Corrie do Oliver!

Oxford Mail:

Weatherfield’s cobbles were transformed into Dickensian London for Children In Need 2004, when the Corrie cast gave a spectacular rendition of the musical Oliver! Sam Aston (Chesney) took on the title role, while Bradley Walsh (who played factory boss Danny Baldwin) starred as wiry Fagin.

Simon Cowell is sawn in half

Oxford Mail:

By 2003, then-Pop Idol judge Simon Cowell had firmly established himself as the Mr Nasty of the talent show world. The music mogul received a taste of his own medicine on that year’s Children In Need, looking more terrified than a tone-deaf auditionee as he lay in a box with fellow judge Pete Waterman hovering over him with a saw. Cowell emerged unscathed with not so much as a nick on those high-waisted jeans.

EastEnders do Queen

The most shocking part of EastEnders’ Queen medley in 2011 wasn’t Ian Beale clad in a black PVC miniskirt, fake bosoms heaving in a pink mohair top as he sang I Want To Break Free. It was seeing the cast of the notoriously glum soap crack smiles for once. The skit ended with all the stars rocking out to Radio Ga Ga in Albert Square.

Perfect Day

What do you get when you mix Boyzone, David Bowie, Shane MacGowan and Heather Small from M People? No, not the most random pub lock-in ever, but the biggest selling Children In Need single of all time. The star-studded cover of Lou Reed’s Perfect Day topped the charts in 1997, raising £2m in the process. The BBC will be hoping to replicate the single’s success this year with a cover of The Beach Boys classic God Only Knows, featuring Stevie Wonder and One Direction.

Children In Need Rocks

Oxford Mail:

In 2009, Gary Barlow rounded up his showbiz pals in the Royal Albert Hall for the first of his Children In Need Rocks concerts. Duets included Dame Shirley Bassey and Dizzee Rascal (singing Diamonds Are Forever).

BBC Children in Need’s 2014 appeal show is on BBC One from 7.30pm. Find out more at bbc.co.uk/pudsey

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