Saturday, 15 March 2003, 9.24 AM
Red Nose Day raises £35 million

Red Nose Day 2003 has raised £35,174,798 for Comic Relief, completely smashing the record.

By just 11.15pm on Friday the tally was more than had been raised by the very end of the last Red Nose night. At the end of the BBC ONE telethon, the total was more than one-and-a-half times the last campaign's on-the-night total.

Kevin Gyle from Comic Relief said his highlights were Ricky Gervais' charity appeal, Ali G's interview with Bhutros Bhutros Gali and he showed appreciation for Jack Dee who spent most of the night standing on top of a 55-feet pole.

Once all forthcoming donations are added, the total should swell above 2001's mammoth final total of £55 million.

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