Cast members from Doctor Who were out in force for BBC’s Big Night In, three hour benefit for Comic Relief and Red Nose Day and their efforts in the Coronavirus Crisis.

Most of the actors who have served in the lead role.

Before watching the following videos, pause the SCIFI.radio player stream using the controller at the upper right – or at the bottom if you’re on your phone (sorry about that – we’re still working on that one).

From the BBC:

The Doctors come together to thank the doctors! Join Jodie Whittaker, Peter Capaldi, Tom Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Peter Davison, Jo Martin, Matt Smith, David Tennant, Colin Baker and Paul McGann as they pay tribute to our fantastic NHS & health workers for their amazing work. We’ve never been further apart, yet somehow never closer. That’s why, for one night only, Comic Relief, BBC Children in Need and BBC One, are coming together for a special night of entertainment, like no other. Join us as we celebrate the people who are making a difference and help support those affected during these extraordinary times.

It was all part of a special presentation by the BBC called Comic Relief: The Big Night In, which aired for British viewers last night, and all meant to help the BBC’s special charity, BBC Children In Need.

A fair bit of the show was given over to actors who had been on Doctor Who as well. Here is the David Tennant / Catherine Tate sketch, updated for the new social distancing paradigm and distance learning, with Tate still bovvered. She’s a Tik-Tok star now, and doesn’t quite get the fact that people can’t catch computer viruses.

Matt Lucas – Doctor Who fans know him as Nardol, one of Peter Capaldi’s Doctor’s companions – is well known in Britain as a standup comic. He and fellow comic David Walliams bring back their show Little Britain for the night, in a hilarious seqeunce of short sketches about the COVID-19 lockdown and what it’s done to life in the U.K. The costumes are all made of whatever the two chaps can get their hands on, including construction paper drawn on with markers, cotton balls, the tubes from bum roll, and bits of tape standing in for hair pieces.

Matt Lucas wasn’t done – and neither was his baked potato.

In a reprisal of his famous Baked Potato song, the BBC Concert Orchestra joined him in producing possibly the best version of the Baked Potato Song ever, this time updated for COVID-19 concerns. While watching, by the way, take note of the xylophone player who, instead of playing his xylophones, is actually playing the glassware in his open dishwasher.

While David Eccleston (the 9th Doctor) for some reason wasn’t included in the festivities, he would not allow himself to be unheard, and posted this reading of a poem by Matt Kelly, in tribute to the brave men and women of the NHS on the front lines fighting the coronavirus pandemic and risking their lives every single day.

Doctor Who has supported the BBC’s efforts with Comic Relief for years; here is the 1999 Doctor Who sketch, Curse of the Fatal Death, in which the very first incarnation of the Doctor as a woman actually took place.

The sketch shows more regenerations in one story than any other Doctor Who production, and stars Rowan Atkinson, Richard E. Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant and Joanna Lumley as the Doctor. But is it canon? Well, it was written by Steven Moffat, so there’s that.

If you’d like to donate to Comic Relief, you may donate here: https://comicrelief.com/youtube

Comic Relief and BBC Children in Need are working together to make sure the money raised goes to where its most needed as quickly and efficiently as possible. Whilst we each have different approaches and focus; we are working together to ensure between us we reach those most at risk.

• Visit Us ? http://comicrelief.com
• Donate ? https://comicrelief.com/donate
• Instagram ? https://instagram.com/comicrelief
• Twitter ? https://twitter.com/comicrelief
• Facebook ? https://facebook.com/comicrelief

The evening’s festivities raised over £27 million to help the kids. Time, effort and fun well spent.

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