Peter Kay's Car Share screenings raised £34k for charity

The charity screening for Peter Kay’s Car Share has raised over £34,000 for research into mitochondrial disease.

The one-off screening (that turned into a three-part event) for fans took place last weekend, which showed brand new episodes of the BAFTA Award-winning comedy series to paying punters at the Blackpool Opera House.

With the screening(s) in aid of raising both money and awareness for The Lily Foundation, a 2007-founded charity that researches mitochondrial disease, Kay’s managed to amass an incredible sum for his efforts.

The Lily Foundation confirmed how much it raised from the successful event via its Twitter account.

‘It’s official!’ their tweet began. ‘#PeterKayCarShare charity screenings raised an incredible £34,620 to fight mitochondrial disease! This will make a real difference to lives of children with mito. HUGE thank you to @peterkay_co_uk you are what true ️s are made of.’

Kay, 44, has already been vocal on supporting the research of the disease, saying how it’s affected him personally: ‘The Lily Foundation is an inspiring charity that helps to improve the lives of children with mitochondrial disease.

‘I’ve had first-hand experience of the Foundation’s work and I’m proud to raise both awareness and much needed funds to help with the inspiring work they provide to children and their families.’

During Kay’s surprise cameo at the halftime point of the episodes, he urged people not to spoil it for the rest of its fans at home who wouldn’t be seeing it just yet.

And the comedian marked his first public appearance since announcing his tour cancellation with a Jimmy Savile joke, as he surprised guests at the event with a ‘now then, now then’ greeting and follow-up of, ‘I’d like to say we forgive you, but we don’t,’ about the now dead child molester.

The Phoenix Nights funnyman had tweeted back in December about the total cancellation of his 200-date upcoming comedy tour and all other projects due to ‘unforeseen family circumstances’ which he didn’t and has still not elaborated on. The canned tour in question is said to have been worth a massive £40 million; leaving plenty of fans disappointed.

Only this week was The Real Full Monty: Ladies Night slammed for paying £10,000 fees to each of its featured celebs, despite only raising £4,000 through website donations.

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