The BBC successfully raised £18.1m on the night of this year’s Children in Need appeal.

The 30th telethon on 19th November saw 185,066 received from viewers and over £18,098,199 being given in donations by 2am that evening. 

However the figure was just short of the total amount raised on the night of last years appeal, which stood at £20.9m.

eDonate, the online giving platform of BT was used by call centres to record pledges made to Children in Need.

BT’s scheme “Chat for Children”, which saw 1p for every call made from a landline or payphone go to charity, as well as 25p for every call made to their directory enquiry service, succeeded in collecting £200,000 during their day-long appeal on 12 November

BT has supported Children in Need since the first telethon in 1980 and this year showed their support by projecting an image of Pudsey Bear as well as the donation number from the top of their famous tower.

Steve Smith who manages the eDonate platform said in an interview: “At peak times, the BT network was handling more than 42 calls every second!”

“More than 5,000 volunteers in 51 call centres across the UK manned the phone lines, answering more than 185,000 calls, which was a great way to celebrate 30 years of telethons”. 

David Ramsden, chief executive of BBC Children in Need, voiced his satisfaction by commenting: “In these tough times the millions raised tonight will make a real difference to thousands of young lives right across the UK.

“On behalf of the children I would like to thank everyone for their incredible generosity”.