Stand Up To Cancer returns with new look live show

24 October 2023

Rhod Gilbert, Davina McCall, Adam Hills, Joe Lycett and Munya Chawawa star

On Friday 3rd November Channel 4 and Cancer Research UK will celebrate a remarkable decade of standing up to cancer with a star-studded night of fantastic TV. Live from The Francis Crick Institute, a renowned hub for pioneering cancer research, the biggest and brightest names in British comedy and entertainment will come together to bring audiences a raucous night of television.

From 7pm, hosts Davina McCall, Adam Hills, Joe Lycett and Munya Chawawa will kick off proceedings with SU2C: The Takeover. This 90-minute live show will be jam-packed with hilarious comedy talent and famous faces, including Rita Ora, Oti Mabuse, Cush Jumbo, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Charlotte Ritchie and many more, all standing together to celebrate the staggering breakthroughs and progress in cancer research that has been made possible by money raised through Stand Up To Cancer in the last ten years. 

Following this, Channel 4 will show an all-new Celebrity Gogglebox and the nail-biting star-studded finale of Don’t Look Down where Paddy McGuinness leads his team of celebrities as they attempt a world-first relay highwire walk over the London Stadium, home of the 2012 Olympics.

The night will climax in The SU2C Comedy Roast, an entertaining extravaganza hosted by Rhod Gilbert and featuring an array of comedy talent including Jordan Gray, Ellie Taylor, Danny Beard, Tom Stade, Davina McCall, Joe Lycett and Nish Kumar. Comics Sara Barron, Thanyia Moore, Bobby Mair, Harriet Kemsley, Fatiha El-Ghorri and Larry Dean will also take part in a ‘roast roulette’. The show will bring together an array of brilliant faces and much-loved stars, including all prepared to be lovingly roasted in aid of Stand Up To Cancer.

This very special night will then culminate in Sean Lock: Lockipedia – a reminder of the much-missed comedy genius of one of Channel 4’s best known comics.

Channel 4’s live SU2C night will feature Audio Description commentary on the main broadcast and will be shown simultaneously on 4Seven with British Sign Language interpretation.

Stand Up To Cancer was commissioned for Channel 4 by Head of Live Events, Tom Beck with Head of Entertainment, Phil Harris and commissioning executive Antonia Howard-Taylor. SU2C: The Takeover and The SU2C Comedy Roast, are produced by Monkey, which is part of Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group. Executive Producers for Monkey are Andy Charles Smith and Suzi Aplin.    Channel 4’s live SU2C night will feature Audio Description commentary on the main broadcast and will be shown simultaneously on 4Seven with British Sign Language interpretation.

In the days preceding the live show, Channel 4 will air special programmes including the raw and unflinching documentary, Rhod Gilbert: A Pain In The Neck.

Rhod Gilbert: A Pain In The Neck

Over ten years Comedian Rhod Gilbert has raised almost £2million for cancer care. Whilst on a fundraising trek to raise money for Velindre Cancer Hospital in Cardiff he noticed worrying symptoms and would go on to be diagnosed with head and neck cancer.

Airing in the run up to Stand Up To Cancer this documentary is told largely through Rhod’s own personal video diaries. With his typical unflinching and mordant humour, this sensitive and thoughtful documentary will show one of the UK’s best-loved comedians share his personal experience of living with cancer and receiving treatment at the very hospital he supported for over a decade.

Celebrity Gogglebox

Britain’s best-loved personalities will offer commentary on the most talked-about television of the week. The line-up of famous faces will be revealed soon.

Don’t Look Down

In the grand finale of Don't Look Down, Paddy McGuiness leads his team of celebrities as they attempt a world-first highwire walk over hte London Stadium, home of the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. Will they be able to shake off their nerves, or will it go to the wire? One thing's for sure, they'll have to remember one key piece of advice: Don't Lool Down! 

Over the past four episodes Paddy, Beverley Callard, Anton Ferdinand, Kimberly Wyatt, Chris Hughes, David Ginola, Charley Boorman, GK Barry, Fats Timbo and Victoria Pendleton have all faced their fears during rigorous training high in the Austrian Alps. Put through their paces by the world’s foremost authorities in highwire walking, these famous faces were thrown into the deep end in a string of physically and mentally demanding challenges. Has the training paid off? Will the team come together in this dazzling tribute to those we have loved and lost to cancer?

The Money

Over the past decade Stand Up To Cancer has raised over £93 million for lifesaving cancer research. We want to smash that target to turn even more trials into treatments. In the past decade, the money raised has gone toward funding 64 clinical trials and research projects involving more than 13,000 cancer patients and has led to breakthroughs in treatment. From trials into kinder testing for breast cancer to a new treatment for advanced bile duct cancer now available on the NHS, cash raised by Stand Up To Cancer is literally saving lives.

One in two of us will get cancer in our lifetime*. Stand Up To Cancer is helping us all fight back. To donate whatever you can call 0300 123 4444* or text £40 £30 £20 or £10 text FORTY, THIRTY, TWENTY or TEN to 70404. For more information and to donate online visit Channel4.com/SU2C

Ends

*Ahmad AS et al, British Journal of Cancer, 2015

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About Stand Up To Cancer (UK)  

• Stand Up To Cancer is a joint national fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 that brings the UK together to speed up progress in life-saving cancer research 
• More than £93 million has been raised in the UK to date, funding 64 clinical trials and research projects involving more than 13,000 cancer patients
• Supported by the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) in the US and launched in the UK in 2012, Stand Up To Cancer funds translational research, turning academic breakthroughs in the labs into new treatments that make a real difference for people with cancer. 
• Research projects include the development of pioneering technology to detect super low levels of cancerous DNA in blood to improve the way we diagnose ovarian cancer, developing a new immunotherapy drug to boost the power of the immune system against cancer, exploring an entirely new approach to treating bowel cancer, and much more 
• Stars such as Naomi Campbell, Noel Gallagher, Tom Hardy, Gillian Anderson, Idris Elba, Andy Murray, James Corden, Martin Freeman, Jamie Oliver, Richard Ayoade, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Peter Crouch, Abbey Clancy, Danny Dyer, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Lily James, Rosamund Pike, Sophie Turner, Stephen Graham, Toby Jones, Maya Jama, Joe Lycett and Roman Kemp are just some of the talent who have supported Stand Up To Cancer.
• Previous stars of Celebrity Gogglebox for Stand Up to Cancer include: Naomi Campbell, Noel Gallagher, the cast of Line of Duty, Graham Norton, Michelle Visage, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, Steve Coogan, Liam Gallagher, Jamie Dornan, Ed Sheeran, Big Narstie, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Danny and Dani Dyer, Spice Girl Melanie B MBE , Ruby Wax, Tom Daley OBE, Gordon Ramsay and Charlotte Church.
• To find out more about Stand Up To Cancer and how you can support, visit su2c.org.uk or channel4.com/SU2C or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or TikTok.