[Jon]

if Red Nose Day and Children in Need are to continue, they simply need a revamp. For Children in Need, there was an opportunity after the death of Sir Terry Wogan to revamp the show, but it was never done.

Wouldn't that have been perceived as hugely disrespectful to Sir Terry's legacy? A revamp now, a few years later, is perhaps more feasible.

Would it have really been disrespectful? I’m sure Sir Terry would have wanted the show to move with the times and make the most money for the cause. That said saying “the show needs to revamp” is pretty meaningless because it could mean many things and I’m sure in many ways it probably does every year.

Thus discussion reminds me there was a report on Midlands Today a few weeks ago about a group of choir singers from the region performing in Birmingham city centre, which is laudable but it’s a bit of a dull way to raise money for COMIC relief, in years past you’d have expected them to have been spayed with baked beans whilst they do it, but bar a few red noses there was nothing comic about it. 

The most important thing for me would be for there to be a clear distinction between the format of the two telefon events. That Flow and Jo sketch rightly highlighted the fact it’s a bit crap now and the best bits show was the sort of thing that would have appeared every time but after 1am! It’s also weird that the two biggest comedy stars of the BBC (apart from that rubbish Eurovision skit) were no where to be seen.

That said I think the move to going yearly makes sense, as it’s probably a lot more difficult for people to notice something now and it should keeps schools and work places in the habit of marking the occasion. After all every other special day is yearly. I imagine ultimately it’s intended having it yearly will bring in more overall.