Comic Relief reaches £57m appeal record

Charity Fundraising for Comic Relief reached record levels last night, with donations reaching £57m, well up from the previous best of £40.5m, in 2007.

One anonymous donor contributed £6m to the pot, which exceeded the previous year's figure of £40m. The night of comedy sketches and stunts included the last ever French and Saunders sketch. Money raised from the charity event will go towards helping disadvantaged people across Africa and in Britain.

Sainsbury's, which sold official Comic Relief merchandise, handed over a cheque for more than £9m - the biggest single donation ever presented in the history of the event.