By Andy Simon @Andy Simon55

BBC's Children In Need Appeal has grown greatly since their humble beginnings in 1980. The annual TV charity extravaganza hosted by the legendary Terry Wogan was indeed, good telly.

Primarily because back then it was so . . . different?

Since then it's been shown every year and predictably, it has got worse with the passage of time. And judging by last night's addition to the show's continued growing record of TV dullness . . .

It doesn't look like the trend is ending any time soon.

Now don't get me wrong here, the Children In Need cause is without doubt, a very worthy one, and if you can afford to donate, no matter how much the amount, it could and would make a big difference for the better to the lives of many children who truly & desperately need our help.

But the appeal show last night was for me, predictably boring.

I mean really; watching so called soap stars, celebrities and has-beens either prancing about, playing in poorly written sketches and scenarios or even worse, singing dreadful dreary songs with voices that would even make the worst X Factor Wannabe cringe, is not my idea of a fun evening in front of the telly.

Having said that, the short films made for the appeal that are shown throughout the evening are very moving. Mind you; they're meant to be. And they are always worth the time to watch.

The tributes to Sir Terry were a bit, brief?

Well; they did rename a building after him. Perhaps the BBC thought this was enough? After all, he was paid often, and rather handsomely for his jovial hosting and fatherly presence.

Nobody appeared to mention that little snippet.

Well, they wouldn't would they. And again; please don't get me wrong here, I did admire and respect Sir Terry in some ways but let's be honest, he did get paid a lot to do these charity gigs.

Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that in 2005 for example, while his co-presenters gave their time for free, Sir Terry on the other hand, pocketed £1,300 an hour to front the TV charity extravaganza.

And to those who didn't get paid, in addition to those who watched Sir Terry's mediocre hosting of this televisual diatribe of talentless boredom, who then went and put their hands in their pockets to make a humble donation, I think Sir Terry had a bloomin cheek to simply stand there, smiling away, while his appearance fee swelled exponentially by the hour, encouraging the good honest Joe Public, to part with their hard earned cash!

Just an observation. No wonder he smiled so much.

Now I'm not in any way suggesting Sir Terry received any money intended for charity purposes, I want this made very clear. But I do not know for certain however; if he ever claimed to have hosted the show for free?

And in his defence; Sir Terry did say that he never asked for a fee, and that he would have been quite happy to host the show for free.
So why didn't he? Anyway; I'll leave it there.

Returning to last night's show . . .

Tess Daly was . . . well . . . Tess, and that other guy Greg James was about as lively and as talentless as an X Factor contestant.
I wasn't impressed by either of them.

And I was also not impressed by the subtle and repeated plugging of that new film from the Harry Potter franchise, Fantastic Beasts, and where to find them, in the shape of Eddie Redmayne.

If I'd wanted to see a film preview, I would have looked on Amazon.

The collective kids choir from Elstree, Liverpool, Dudley, Glasgow, Salisbury, Swansea, Bridlington and Belfast was pleasant as it's always nice to hear human voices raised in song.

The short appeal films about cancer sufferers, epileptic children or kids with physical deformities, and even about those who have died, as a consequence of their conditions, are always humbling to watch. In fact; they're the only real and genuine parts of the whole evening and hopefully, the real reasons why we donate every year.

The rest sadly is a poorly directed and talentless display of low budget entertainment that unfortunately, we are made to endure.
At the close of the first part hosted by Tess Daly and that dreadfully dull Greg James, the grand total stood at £15,605,308.
I only watched the show until around 9:30pm and as I'm certain Graham Norton did a good job, he'll never replace Sir Terry.
In fact, I don't think he would even try.

I cannot comment on what took place after 9:30 as I was way too bored and tired with the entire show by then. But I made my donation via a text and soon after, went to my highly valued Intensive Care Unit upstairs with a clear conscience, knowing that I had done my bit, for a good cause.

It's the least I could do for Sir Terry, and all the needy children.

Some would say that the Children In Need show is too long. It starts ok but after two or three hours of it, it feels more like a televisual indurance test, amplified by the unsurprisingly poor, and at times, embarrassing talents of those involved.

But to be fair; without the almost constant hammering by the participants and with the addition of those very moving short films, the appeal would not get the attention, nor the generous donations it richly deserves, from the good hearted general public.

So all in all; it's a good thing, be it at times, rather boring.

Sir Terry I'm sure; will not be turning in his grave, but for me at least, after a couple of hours of watching dreadful sketches and poor acting, as old has-beens were trying to either reinvent themselves, or relaunch their dead careers, I was irritatingly shifting and shuffling, rather uncomfortably on my sofa.

But it's all for a good cause, so I'll probably be watching next year.
Rest in peace Sir Terry.

Pudsey is doing just fine without you.

Thanks for reading.
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