Here's when you can watch Sports Relief 2020 - and why there's no Red Nose Day this year

This year, an elite team of famous athletes and entertainers will come together once again to raise money for Sport Relief 2020.

The sporty offshoot of the Red Nose Day charity, Sport Relief will once again be hosted by football legend Gary Lineker and comedian Paddy McGuiness.

Here’s everything you need to know about this year's event.

What is Sport Relief?

In 2002, Comic Relief teamed up with the BBC Sport to create a new fundraising event – Sport Relief.

Sport Relief stars athletes and other members of the sporting community to help raise money for the Comic Relief cause. It also brings in various famous faces from the entertainment world to compete in sports-themed challenges.

Comic Relief itself began back in 1985, founded by comedian Lenny Henry and comedy writer/director Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones’s Diary) and launched on Christmas Day from a refugee camp in Sudan.

Its mission statement was to: “bring about positive and lasting change in the lives of poor and disadvantaged people, which we believe requires investing in work that addresses people's immediate needs as well as tackling the root causes of poverty and injustice".

In 1986, Comic Relief staged their first ever telethon called “Comic Relief Utterly Utterly Live”, which featured a host of beloved British comics and musicians. Rowan Atkinson, Stephen Fry and Kate Bush all performed.

This telethon would then become Red Nose Day - the flagship event of the charity and one of the biggest fundraising nights in the UK alongside Children in Need.

Red Nose Day has always been a biennial event, taking place once every two years, so Sport Relief was created to take place in years in between, allowing Comic Relief to raise even more money towards its causes.

Why is there no Red Nose Day this year?

Red Nose Day continues to be one of the biggest charity events in the UK, having raised over £1 billion since it began. Comic Relief founders Lenny Henry and Richard Curtis continue to play a huge role in it.

The most recent Red Nose Day was on Friday 15 March 2019, and featured performances from Hugh Grant, Carey Mulligan, Little Mix and Alicia Vikander. It raised over £63 million.

Since the event only takes place once every two years, that of course means that there will be no Red Nose Day 2020.

The next one to look forward to is Red Nose Day 2021, which will take place on Saturday 13 March 2021.

Fortunately, that also means that there is a Sport Relief this year.

When is Sport Relief 2020?

This year’s Sport Relief will take place between Monday 9 March and Friday 13 March, with the telethon itself to take place on the Friday at 7pm on BBC One.

It will be hosted once again by Gary Lineker and Paddy McGuiness. Lineker has served as host for every single edition of Sports Relief since its inception in 2002.

This year’s event will also feature sports stars like Tottenham Hotspur star Harry Kane and gold medal-winning Olympian Jessica Ennis-Hill is also set to appear, as well as Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand and gymnast Max Whitlock.

A team of TV and radio stars will also be undertaking a gruelling triathlon that will see them ski, cycle and trek across 100 miles of desert under the blazing Namibian sun. The event, called The Heat Is On, will raise money for mental health support.

The Heat Is On line-up includes BBC Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw, BBC presenter Louise Minchin, singer Frankie Bridge, TV star Judge Rinder, Channel 4 newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy and former soap star Samantha Womack.

The stars of hit BBC show Line of Duty will also be appearing for a more light-hearted spin on the popular cop drama, while Killing Eve will become Killing Steve - following a mysterious female assassin as she hunts down a series of famous Steves.

This article originally appeared on our sister site, The Scotsman.

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