Alan Carr is practising his best 'touching his glasses' face in the mirror this week ahead of hosting an all-star fundraising evening of entertainment for Stand Up To Cancer on Channel 4.

He'll be joined by co-hosts Davina McCall and Embarrassing Bodies' Dr Christian Jessen as part of the new fundraising and awareness event, which hopes to generate much-needed cash to help get new advancements against cancer out of the lab and into the treatment room.

Alan will be helping to host the evening as well a bumper episode of Chatty Man, while Davina will be holding a tense charity special of Million Pound Drop. Dr Christian Jessen will put down his latex gloves and stop touching weird body parts for one minute to be on hand to explain some of the science behind the incredible new cancer trials Stand Up To Cancer hopes to fund and to show you the people whose lives depend on new breakthroughs in cancer research.

Stand up, make a difference

And as well as a whole week of support from the likes of Leona Lewis, Kylie Minogue, Tom Daley, JLS, Emeli Sande, David Hasselhoff, the cast of 8 out of 10 Cats and a special appearance from The Simpsons, SU2C are hoping members of the public (like, uh, you) will get involved, too.

You can help any way you want – by baking cakes and selling them at work, tuning in to the broadcast on the night or by getting your hands on the exclusive range of campaign merchandise – including wristbands and t-shirts sported by the likes of Robert Pattinson – available online or from Cancer Research UK’s high street shops, TK Maxx and Tesco.

If you want to get involved ahead of the show, download an ideas pack and do a spot of fundraising or make a donation online, And don't forget to visit facebook.com/standuptocancerUK and @StandUp2C on Twitter.

Whatever you do, make sure you tune in to Channel 4 on Friday 19 October and join in.  By coming together and boosting funding right now, we can help accelerate cancer treatments and save more lives.