Comic Relief donations plummet by £8m

Comic Relief suffered an £8m fall in donations for its Red Nose Day appeal this year and lost nearly a half a million viewers, it has been revealed.

A total of £63.5m was raised by the end of Friday night’s show, compared with £71.3m at the end of the previous charity event in 2017.

The BBC says that this year’s telethon also saw a dip in ratings, with an average of 5.6 million people tuning in - 600,000 fewer viewers than in 2017.

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Comic Relief donations peaked in 2011 - when £108.4m was raised - and have been falling since.

This year’s decline came after a difficult build up to the event, in which the Labour MP David Lammy criticised documentary-maker Stacey Dooley for promoting a “white saviour” complex.

Lammy accused Dooley of spreading “tired and unhelpful stereotypes” about Africa after she travelled to Uganda for a Comic Relief documentary.

Dooley, who has made documentaries for the BBC on a wide variety of topics, responded by suggesting the politician should raise awareness of poverty himself.

She tweeted: “David, is the issue with me being white? (Genuine question) ... because if that’s the case, you could always go over there and try [to] raise awareness?

Writing in The Guardian ahead of Friday night’s event, comedian Romesh Ranganathan said the row made him reflect on his own involvement in Red Nose Day.

“I may not completely agree with David Lammy, because the direct result could well be that fewer people made donations,” he said.

“But his central argument – that these photos promote a stereotype that has been reinforced by charity work of this nature – echoes concerns that many people have had for a long time.”

Ranganathan added: “Comic Relief needs to improve, but that it has done an incredible job when it comes to helping many people lead better lives.”