Comic Relief was founded more than 40 years ago by director Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the famine in Ethiopia. The inaugural Red Nose Day telethon on February 5, 1988, was a national phenomenon, drawing 30 million viewers and raising £15 million. Since that historic debut, the charity has raised an extraordinary £1.5 billion to fund vital projects across the UK and Africa.

Sir Lenny stepped down as main host in 2024, and this year the televised charity gala was hosted by Joel Dommett, Catherine Tate, Davina McCall, Nick Mohammed and Katherine Ryan. While Davina and Joel also led the spectacle last year, the broadcast lost one million viewers from the previous year, averaging just 2.6 million viewers. The stats are a stark contrast to the massive audience the telethon attracted during its opening year.

Let's face it, the annual BBC One telethon is in desperate need of a revamp to recapture public interest.

In recent years, the show has become too safe and over-scripted. It's lost its edge, and it feels like many of the sketches have just been recycled (with many being awkward and not remotely funny). Where's the comedy, and why should we sit still for three hours to watch it?

Perhaps Sir Lenny thought passing on the torch to Davina and co would help draw in a younger audience - but it's done quite the opposite, according to those figures. Or maybe he stepped away from hosting duties before viewership became disasterous.

Davina was at the height of her presenting career in the early 2000s when Big Brother was huge, and Catherine Tate also rose to fame during the naughties. The BBC may need a Gen Z host to save the show who understands the digital-first landscape.

Fundraising has also seen a downward trend following a major spike during the pandemic when an impressive £59 million was raised, and nearly five million BBC viewers tuned in as the nation rallied together during the COVID lockdown. Comic Relief has failed to get anywhere near those numbers since 2021.

To survive, the BBC has to tear up the current format as it's clearly not resonating with viewers. It needs to be shorter, fresher, and have new hosts who can really bring it up to speed. It would be great if it were more interactive, with fundraising leaderboards and live polls to participate in.

We can't go on using the same format that's been used for the past 41 years - even Sir Lenny must know that, deep down.

BBC's Comic Relief is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.