A Week of Big Laughs and Bigger Heart for Stand Up To Cancer

Image: Ch4 Press

By Jon Donnis

Next week marks the return of Stand Up To Cancer and a fresh push from Channel 4 and Cancer Research UK to shine a light on NHS cancer screening while raising money for crucial research. The whole thing begins with a new comedy sketch that brings Greg Davies and Alex Horne together, with Clare Balding, Claudia Winkleman, Nish Kumar, Tom Daley, Adam Hills, Dermot Murnaghan and Jason Fox all pitching their ideas to the ever intimidating Taskmaster and his not quite as intimidating assistant. It sets the tone nicely for what is shaping up to be a lively and heartfelt run of events.

From Monday 8 December, the campaign rolls into a packed week of fundraising moments and celebrity antics that lead straight into a night of live television on Friday 12 December. Alex Horne has created a fundraising challenge of his own and is already in training for what sounds like a pretty wild test of stamina, nerve and friendship. The full details are being kept quiet, which only adds to the charm, but we do know he will take on the feat over twenty four hours at Battersea Power Station. Things kick off at 10pm on Thursday 11 December and visitors will be able to cheer him on throughout Friday. He put it in his own usual style, talking about his childhood hope of taking part in a celebrity fundraising endeavour and joking about how his traffic warden dreams are probably behind him.

While Alex is pushing himself to the edge, Outlet Shopping at The O2 will host four days of challenges from Monday 8 to Thursday 11 December. Celebrities and content creators will attempt trick shots and all sorts of troublesome little tasks in a shop window as Christmas shoppers look on in varying degrees of confusion. Every successful attempt adds to the pot for Stand Up To Cancer, with the last challenge on the Friday night show carrying a hefty fifty thousand pound prize donation. The line up taking part includes Vicky Pattison, Leigh Francis, Pete Wicks, Adam Hills, Victoria Pendleton, Chris Hughes, Chloe Burrows, Fats Timbo, Charlotte Crosby, Tia Kofi, Ferne McCann, Max Fosh, Suzi Ruffell and Maisie Adam.

Ahead of the live show on Friday 12 December, Clare Balding has joined the presenting team. She will appear alongside Adam Hills, Hannah Fry and Vicky Pattison for what promises to be an emotional and memorable broadcast. The night will feature special editions of Celebrity Gogglebox and The Last Leg, plus stories, performances and plenty of fundraising moments as celebrities and viewers come together to support life saving work. Babatunde Aleshe will serve as Guest Announcer, with Amy Dowden among the guests.

Davina McCall will also appear with Cancer Clinic: Live, broadcasting from a one off cancer clinic at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. The programme follows patients and their families through several weeks of appointments and results as they continue into treatment. It adds a very real and human dimension to the campaign, showing exactly why this work matters.

In the days leading up to the live show, Clare Balding will be travelling with some well known friends to highlight the NHS and PHA cancer screening programmes for breast, bowel and cervical cancer. With an estimated nine million people in the UK currently behind on screening, she will help launch a nationwide Screening Checker on Friday 5 December. It gives the public a simple way to find out which screenings they are eligible for and what to expect from the process. Clare summed up her feelings by saying it is an honour to be part of Stand Up To Cancer this year and to help raise awareness of prevention and early detection. She spoke of how cancer affects so many lives and how important this campaign is in supporting vital research.

Stand Up To Cancer UK brings people together to speed up life saving cancer research. Since starting in 2012, it has raised over one hundred and thirteen million pounds and supported seventy three clinical trials and projects involving more than thirteen thousand patients. These include work on robotic and laser assisted surgery, the use of AI in detection and treatment, and even lollipops that could help identify mouth cancer.

Stand Up To Cancer airs on Channel 4 on Friday 12 December from 7.30pm.