George Clooney and the celebrities who've done TV cameos for charity
Clooney is joining the likes of David Beckham, Miranda Hart, David Cameron and a LOT of Timelords
George Clooney is poised to take on a role in Downton Abbey as part of a comedy sketch for ITV's charity fundraiser Text Santa later this year.
I say poised, although his part is reportedly all filmed, done and dusted, ready for us to watch at Christmas. (What a stocking filler, eh?) But however exciting this new is, Clooney is far from the first celebrity face to step out of their comfort zone in the name of charity. In fact...
Just last year X Factor host and Girls Aloud member Cheryl Cole took to the cobbles in Coronation Street for ITV's Text Santa, hanging out in the Rovers Return with Michelle Keegan's Tina McIntyre.
David Beckham is no stranger to charity cameos. He's done loads of them. Earlier this year he appeared in an Only Fools and Horses sketch...
And here's one of our favourites. Golden Balls appeared alongside the rest of the England football squad in this Gavin and Stacey meets Red Nose Day scene in 2009 with James Corden playing everyone's favourite character Smithy.
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In 2011 Miranda Hart, plus her sitcom co-stars Tom Ellis, Sarah Hadland and Patricia Hodge, starred in a spoof of Louis Spence's Sky1 Pineapple Dance Studios show. The skit also featured JLS, and Louis himself...
FIVE Timelords appeared in this 1993 Children in Need Doctor Who episode which was set in Albert Square and also featured a whole host of EastEnders stars...
But that wasn't the only time Doctor Who was involved in a celebrity cameo. Joanna Lumley, Richard E. Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant and Rowan Atkinson ALL played the Doctor in a 1999 Red Nose Day spoof.
Neither was this the first time Rowan Atkinson cameoed for charity. He also appeared in Blind Date in 1993 for Comic Relief (as did Alan Cumming in one of his first on-screen roles)...
And finally, all these one-off appearances aren't limited to singers, actors and tabloid favourites. British Prime Minister David Cameron did his bit for Red Nose Day last year, appearing in the video for One Direction's official charity single. He even got a hug off Harry Styles.
