Comic Relief noses towards fundraising target

This year`s Comic Relief appeal appears on course for another huge fundraising total with more than £35m raised by the end of the TV show.

Closing the televised appeal at 1.40am, comic Graham Norton revealed £35,174,798 had been raised at that stage.

This compared with £24m at the same stage during the last Red Nose Day, when the final total after adding up all the money raised around the country was £55m.

A Red Nose Day spokesman said the level of donations this year has been "impressive".

Jonathon Ross and Lenny Henry kicked off the proceedings on the BBC appeal, wearing red wigs to reflect this year's theme - The Big Hair Do.

Ant and Dec shared some of the hosting responsibilities and made way later for Norton, Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer.

The disastrous results of the Comic Relief Celebrity Driving School, a show watched by more than nine million people, were revealed to viewers and the learners themselves.

Unfortunately every driver - Gareth Gates, Jade Goody, Paul O'Grady, Natalie Cassidy, Simon Day and Nadia Sawalha - failed miserably.

Casualty star Will Mellor was crowned winner of Celebrity Fame Academy, beating comic Ruby Wax after the public voted him their favourite in a phone poll.

The early hours of the Red Nose Day show featured Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders performing a spoof Harry Potter sketch, while the cast of EastEnders were seen in a sketch as viewers had never seen them before - happy, smiling and optimistic.

The show was punctuated with documentaries filmed in Britain and Africa showing various projects funded by Comic Relief.

During the past 18 years, Comic Relief has raised more than £250m.

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