Famous faces kick off Stand Up To Cancer 2025

• Famous faces kick off the campaign with new comedy sketch to air on Channel 4 during The Last Leg on Friday 5th December

• Alex Horne enters training for epic 24-hour challenge at Battersea Power Station

• Clare Balding confirmed to join hosting line up for the live fundraising show on Friday 12th December

• TV and social media stars to take on ‘Celebrity Challenge Window’

Next week sees the return of Stand Up To Cancer and the launch of a new campaign by Channel 4 and Cancer Research UK to drive awareness of NHS cancer screening programmes and raise funds for groundbreaking cancer research.

Kicking off the campaign, a new comedy sketch featuring Greg Davies and Alex Horne sees Clare Balding, Claudia Winkleman, Nish Kumar, Tom Daley, Adam Hills, Dermot Murnaghan and Jason Fox all trying to persuade The Taskmaster (and his lowly assistant) to adopt their awareness raising ideas.

From Monday 8th December, a week of fundraising and extraordinary celebrity challenges are taking place in the build up to the unmissable night of live television on Friday 12th December.

Comedian, musician and creator of BAFTA-winning Taskmaster Alex Horne has devised a celebrity fundraising challenge and is in training for the epic test of physical endurance, mental strength and… friendship. This mysterious feat will take place over 24 hours at London’s Battersea Power Station starting on Thursday 11th December at 10pm.

Alex Horne said: "Ever since I was a little boy I knew I wanted to one day be a part of a celebrity fundraising endeavour for various reasons, mostly good, and now it is my time. I also wanted to be a traffic warden, but I fear that ship has sailed".

This unique task for Little Alex Horne will push the boundaries of his abilities as visitors on Friday will get the chance to encourage him to keep going. Stay tuned for more…

And get ready for four days of fun and games at Outlet Shopping at The O2 from Monday 8th to Thursday 11th December as a star-studded lineup of celebs and content creators attempt challenges and trick shots, from the troublesome to the torturous, in a shop window in front of an audience of bemused Christmas shoppers.

Visitors will have the chance to witness their favourite stars attempt the impossible - performing wild and wonderful trick shots live in-store, all to raise vital funds for cancer research. Each successful trick shot landed earns a prize donation for SU2C, with the challenge culminating in the live night of television on Friday 12th December – with one final challenge worth £50,000.

The famous faces taking part include Vicky Pattison, Leigh Francis, Pete Wicks, Adam Hills, Victoria Pendleton, Chris Hughes, Chloe Burrows, Fats Timbo, Charlotte Crosby, Tia Kofi, Ferne McCann, Max Fosh, Suzi Ruffell and Maisie Adam.

Ahead of the live night of TV on Friday 12th December, broadcaster and author Clare Balding has been added to the presenting line-up. Clare will join previously announced presenters Adam Hills, Hannah Fry and Vicky Pattison, for an unmissable night of television, live on Channel 4.

The broadcast is the climax to a week of fundraising and extraordinary celebrity challenges as part of this year’s campaign and will also feature special editions of Celebrity Gogglebox and The Last Leg, as well as moving stories, performances and fundraising moments as celebrities and the public unite to raise money for life-saving cancer research. Babatunde Aleshe will be live in the studio as Guest Announcer, with guests including Strictly star Amy Dowden.

Davina McCall will also appear to present Cancer Clinic: Live, a live broadcast direct from inside a special one-off cancer clinic at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where we’ll meet patients and their families whose cancer journeys have been followed for several weeks from diagnosis to results, as they continue through treatment.

Plus, in the run up to the live night of TV on Friday 12th December, Clare Balding will be out and about with some very special friends to make us all aware of the NHS and PHA cancer screening programmes available – breast, bowel and cervical. With at least 9 million people in the UK not up to date with their cancer screening*, Clare and friends are helping Stand Up To Cancer launch a nationwide cancer Screening Checker on Friday 5th December. The Screening Checker will allow the public to easily find out which NHS and PHA cancer screenings they are eligible for and get helpful advice on the entire screening process.

Clare Balding said: “It's an honour to be a part of Stand Up To Cancer this year and to be joining the amazing presenting team on the live show on Friday 12th December for what is sure to be both a brilliant and emotional night. Cancer touches the lives of so many and Stand Up To Cancer plays a vital role in funding pioneering research and supporting those whose lives have been profoundly affected. It is a privilege to contribute to the campaign and help to raise awareness of the importance of prevention and early detection.”

Stand Up To Cancer on Channel 4, watch live on Friday 12th December from 7.30pm.

To find out more about Stand Up To Cancer and how you can support, visit channel4.com/SU2C or follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram or TikTok.

* Calculated by Cancer Research UK. Estimate based on:

The number of people not up to date with cervical screening (25–64-year-olds).

The estimated number of men not up to date with bowel cancer screening (50/55/60-74-year-olds, depending on UK country).

The estimated number of women older than the cervical screening eligibility not up to date with their bowel screening (aged 65-74).

Or, as an alternative scenario, women not up to date with breast cancer screening (aged 65-69) plus women not up to date with bowel screening (aged 70-74).

We used data from the individual programmes to generate a minimum estimate of the number of people who are not up to date with cancer screening in the UK. Between the ages of 50-70, women are eligible for multiple screening programmes. Therefore, for these age groups only one programme was counted to avoid double counting an individual who might not attend both cervical and bowel screening, for example.

Data on cervical screening coverage were available for all for UK nations. Coverage of bowel screening in men was estimated for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland using data on coverage by gender from Wales. The number of women aged 65-74 not up to date with bowel cancer screening across the 4 UK nations estimated from coverage by gender for Wales and uptake by age group for Scotland. Coverage of breast cancer screening was estimated using data on coverage by age from England were applied to coverage data for Wales and uptake data from Scotland and Northern Ireland.

A report with further information on these calculations is available on request from Cancer Research UK.