The concert was broadcast on BBC One, BBC One HD, BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio Manchester on Thursday 17 November 2011, the day before the official appeal telethon.[2]
Short films of projects being funded by the charity were shown at various points throughout the show, often featuring one of the celebrities meeting a child or group of children.
Tickets for the concert cost between £55 and £95, and the 12,000 tickets sold out within 10 minutes of going on sale on 16 September 2011.[5] Some tickets were also bought by radio stations and television programmes to be auctioned, with one pair of tickets being sold to a BBC Radio Jersey listener for £2010.[6] The concert raised over £2,500,000 including from text donations during the programme. The total would be added to the £26 million which was donated by the British public during the telethon the next day.[7]