Red Nose Day raises £8m less than 2017, as viewing figures fall

Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day earnings fell by £8m this year after criticism from Labour MP David Lammy that the charity fundraising event promotes a “white saviour” complex and a fall in the television audience.

The broadcast, which is held every two years, raised £63m by the end of Friday night, down from £71m in 2017, following the debate over how the broadcast represents African countries.

Although the final total is likely to be slightly higher when late donations are included, it will mark another year of decline for an event that peaked in 2011, when £108m was raised for charitable projects in the UK and Africa.

Viewing figures dipped by 600,000, although 5.6 million people watched clips including the stars of Four Weddings And a Funeral reuniting, with Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell as parents watching Rowan Atkinson marry Alicia Vikander and Lily James.

Lammy, a longstanding critic of Comic Relief’s representation of Africa, criticised the charity’s use of “tired and unhelpful stereotypes”, highlighting an Instagram post by the television presenter Stacey Dooley in which she held a Ugandan child.

“The world does not need any more white saviours,” he said in remarks that dominated the run-up to the event. “As I’ve said before, this just perpetuates tired and unhelpful stereotypes. Let’s instead promote voices from across the continent of Africa and have serious debate.”

Comic Relief staff have acknowledged the damage done by Lammy’s comments, emailing BBC producers working on the show to say they acknowledged that the debate had shaped coverage of this year’s Red Nose Day. They said they welcomed the discussion and acknowledged they had a duty to better represent the “context, voices and characters of the people and countries” where the charity’s money was spent.

The debate put scrutiny on the BBC’s partnership with Comic Relief, which it has promoted since its inception in 1985. The BBC is heavily linked with the charity’s events, promoting Red Nose Day across all of its platforms and deploying many of its biggest stars to take part in fundraising.

Tim Davie, the boss of the BBC’s commercial operations, is chair of Comic Relief’s board of trustees. The BBC’s director of content, Charlotte Moore, who is also responsible for output on BBC One and ultimately commissions much of the programming associated with Red Nose Day, also sat on the charity’s board. Moore quit the board last summer, despite only being appointed to the trustee role in early 2017. A BBC spokesperson said she stepped down to “due to other commitments” at the corporation.

Comic Relief’s sister event, Sport Relief, which is held in alternate years, also suffered a substantial decrease in the amount of money raised in its most recent outing, with income dipping by £17m.