FRIDAY is officially Red Nose Day and at 7pm tonight, Red Nose fever takes over your TV for a night of comedy led by some of the biggest names in the business.

Nicola Mostyn gives you the lowdown on the highlights from this year's Red Nose Day, looks back at previous year's capers and tells you a bit more about the good that your Comic Relief offerings can do

Pick of the Red Nose events

Fame Academy

IT has been a tense week for the Fame Academy finalists, but there can only be one winner. Pushed harder than the entire cast of Police Academy 5 put together, this shower of celebrity students have put their talent, nay their dignity, on the line to raise money for this wonderful cause. Now, tonight, the show culminates in the final and we get to find out who is the student most likely to succeed. There are sure to be tears, recriminations and possibly a lot of screeching if past episodes are anything to go by. Unmissable TV...

Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azerbaijan.

FRENCH and Saunders were always best when they were spoofing and this footage promises to be no exception. With Dawn French as a spookily convincing Harry and Saunders as his ginger Pal Ron Weasley, the sketch recreates Harry Potter's flying car, a scene many will recognise from the second Harry Potter film. Pure comedy magic.

Jack Dee: Up A Pole

DESPITE suffering from vertigo Jack Dee is planning to do a David Blaine and balance on top of a 50-foot high pole for charity. The funnyman will take part in the stunt outside Television Centre on the night of Comic Relief and will be sponsored for every hour he stays on the two-foot wide platform. Sounds horrendous, but having survived Big Brother, we're sure he can get through anything.

Celebrity Driving School

PAINFUL as it was to watch Jade Goody and Paul O'Grady (aka Lily savage) struggle through their written test as though it were the Harvard law exam, it has to be said there is something amusing about watching people who can't drive. Gareth Gates, Nadia Sawalha, The Fast Show's Simon Day and Eastenders' Natalie Cassidy have also been taking part and, charity or not, most of them are taking it pretty damn seriously; from negotiating three point turns, mastering "mirror, signal, manoeuvre" and taking the dreaded test itself. As if that weren't agony enough, they find out if they have passed live on Comic Relief this evening. Who said Charity couldn't be cruel?

Meanwhile on the radio

Top Radio 1 DJs will be taking part in Dance Relief today as part of Comic Relief. The event will be introduced by Pete Tong between 6pm and 8pm before moving on to Pasha for the Battle of the Radio 1 DJs between 8pm to 1am. Listeners and clubbers can cast their votes to decide the nation's favourite dance DJ. Meanwhile, on the Chris Moyles show, Mark "Chappers" Chapman and Comedy Dave have had seven days to collect an item of merchandise from each of the 92 Football League clubs for the Comic Relief Nationwide Football Challenge.

THIS year's comic relief song is Spirit in the Sky with Gareth Gates and The Kumars. But can you remember what it was in...

1988 - Mel Smith and Kim Wilde were Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree

1989 - Bananarama and French and Saunders plus Kathy Burke needed Help!

1991 - Hale & Pace and Brian May did The Stonk

1993 - Right Said Fred wanted to Stick It Out

1995 - Chrissie Hynde, Cher and Neneh Cherry sang Love Can Build A Bridge. (Presumably Cher took care of the comedy element.)

1997 - Spice Girls joined Lenny Henry, Jonathan Ross, and Gryff Rhys Jones with Who Do You Think You Are?

1999 - Boyzone covered When The Going Gets Tough

2001 - Boyzone clones Westlife hit the right note with Uptown Girl

Where your money goes

SOME facts about what Comic Relief fund-raising cash can do

In the UK

£1 pays for a healthy 3-course meal at a centre for young homeless people in Stockton-on-Tees (Community Campus)

£1 buys vegetable seeds for a community farm for young people living on deprived housing estates (Swansea Community Farm)

£2.50 buys pyjamas for a child in emergency accommodation because their mum had to leave home due to domestic violence (Ballymena Women's Aid)

£1 pays for a welcome pack for a young person who is in need of support and advice on how best to cope with looking after a sick or disabled parent or relative. (Edinburgh Young Carers)

In Africa

£1 provides 10 meals for a child who is staying at a Goal night shelter. (Goal in Ethiopia, 2001)

£1 buys a textbook for a displaced school child in Sudan (Save the Children, 2002)

£21 is a month's salary for a teacher working in a camp for displaced families in Sudan (Save the Children, 2002)

£2 transports a child living in a camp for displaced families in Sudan to and

from school for a week. (Save the Children 2002)

£5 provides training and teaching aids for a community leader on HIV/AIDS prevention to help them educate a population of 500 people in rural Burundi (Save the Children, 2002)

£2 buys a basic kit to help a pregnant woman have a safe home delivery and reduce maternal mortality rates in Burundi (Save the Children, 2002)

£2 buys a family in Sudan a cooking pot that can also be used to carry water (Save the Children, 2002)