Children in Need 2014: Ask your parents to stay up until 9pm to watch Tom and Jerry, Tess Daly urges kids

Lord Alan Sugar and Sir Terry Wogan are among the celebrities who have been animated for charity

One of the highlights of tonight's Children in Need extravaganza will be a new cartoon starring Tom and Jerry and a host of other familiar faces.

Presenter Tess Daly tonight urged children to beg their parents to stay up late enough to watch the special cartoon which will be broadcast at 9pm.

Daly's co-presenter Sir Terry Wogan and the judges of Strictly Come Dancing are among the famous faces who have been cartoonised by Warner Bros for the charity appeal.

Naughty cartoon cat Tom will even be seen demanding that The Apprentice mogul Lord Alan Sugar makes a sizeable Children in Need donation.

The iconic cat and mouse will even make an appearance in the EastEnders pub the Queen Vic, before being chased away by Danny Dyer.

The cartoon is based on a BBC advert from the early 1990s in which Julie Walters played an uptight Mary Whitehouse-style character.

Tom and Jerry call on Lord Alan Sugar, Karren Brady and Nick Hewer in The Apprentice ballroom for Children in Need (BBC)

The two minute animation took more than six months to put together.

The Warner Bros animators were sent tapes and photographs of the famous British actors and presenters.

Sir Terry was "bowled over" by the results and thinks it is one of the best things ever done for Children in Need, according to the charity's executive producer Paul Wright.

The 6 hour fundraising gala, which kicked off an hour ago, will include the reunion of '90s tween band S Club 7, EastEnders stars will turn Cirque du Soleil into Cirque du Albert Square and performances by Cheryl Fernandez Versini and Gareth Malone's All Star Choir.

More than £740m has been donated to disadvantaged children since the first show in 1980.

To donate visit bbc.co.uk/pudsey or call 03457 33 22 33.