ITV's Born to Shine talent series raised £2.1m, including over £500,000 of match funding from the British government, for Save the Children's No Child Born to Die campaign.

The televised fundraising series, which featured celebrities learning and showcasing a new skill, was the first public appeal to be backed by the government's UK Aid Match Scheme.

Up to £5m was available to Save the Children from the £30m fund which provides pound-for-pound match funding for non-emergency public appeals for international causes. The fund was devised by the government to allow the public a greater say in where the UK aid budget is spent, according to International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell.

The £500,000 match-funded through the Born to Shine series will specifically support Save the Children's health and hunger work in Nigeria while the remainder of the £2.1m total will support the wider No Child Born to Die campaign work.

Speaking of the success of the appeal, Mitchell said: "The British public has again demonstrated its generosity in digging deep to help tackle malnutrition and get proper healthcare for children in Niger and Liberia. The British government is matching pound for pound these public donations for projects in developing countries, so that Save the Children's life-saving work can go twice as far."

Throughout the series, which concluded on 21 August, and in the three months since, the public donated via SMS, online and by phone after viewing films showcasing Save the Children's work. Chris Tarrant, Dervla Kirwan, Paul O'Grady and Natasha Kaplinsky all fronted films, while Helena Bonham Carter and Ashley Jensen also lent their voices.

Celebrities from rugby player Gareth Thomas to comedian and overall winner Jason Manford took part in the series in a bid to raise public donations for the campaign, which aims to save 15 million child lives by 2015.

Manford became an operatic singer under the tuition of 14-year-old mentor George Clark, before winning the public vote after performing in the live fundraising final.

The campaign was also supported by corporate fundraising, seeing Morrisons become exclusive retail partner for Born to Shine wristbands. Lloyds Banking Group, which is supporting Save the Children as its charity of the year, also donated the services of 2,000 call-centre staff to man the phones for the final appeal, and FirstGroup donated £150,000 of advertising space to aid the fundraising appeal.