The BBC 2020 Children In Need Medley

"The BBC 2020 Children in Need Medley" is a single by Animated All Star Band. It is the official Children in Need Single for 2020, and was released on 20 November 2020. The song was shown for the first time on Children in Need 2020. The cover art is a parody of the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles

History
According to a news interview, Kay makes the single while working with the director. The director said that he would "love to do something like that" but he and Kay regarded it mostly as a joke

After some time away from the subject, Kay brought it up again, this time with the actual intent to produce it. The director said that he and Kay "just sat down one lunchtime and wrote a list", with as many characters recorded on it as they could think of from their childhoods, as well as some modern favourites and US cartoon characters. The song was recorded at Hullabaloo Studios by the Voice and Music Company

The project was carried out in top secret at the request of executive producer Kay. Celebrities and voice artists who voiced characters' original vocals were brought in without being told details of the project. When contacted by Cartoon Network Studios, Casey Kasem agreed to take part of Sylvester And Tweety and asked not to be given credit as he was officially retired.[2]

The project took 132 hours to mix the vocals of the seven songs, eight months to animate, and around two years in total Many of the original character models had been packed away, given to museums or cremated. Where possible the originals were found and transported to Chapman Studios from all over the world. In cases where the original models no longer exist such as the characters from Camberwick Green,[3] new copies of the original models were created.

Because permission was not given by Royal Mail to use their more up to date logo, Postman Pat's van was a modified design with only the number plate PAT 4

Composition
The single is a medley of multiple songs played out in the following order:
 * 1) "Can You Feel It" The Jacksons (1981) (0:00–1:08)
 * 2) "Don't Stop"Fleetwood Mac (1976) (1:08–2:27)
 * 3) "Jai Ho!" from the film Slumdog Millionaire A.R. Rahman and The Pussycat Dolls (2009) (2:12–2:41)
 * 4) "Tubthumping" Chumbawamba (1997) (2:41–3:00)
 * 5) "Never Forget" Take That (1995) (3:00–3:18)
 * 6) "Hey Jude" The Beatles (1968) (3:18–4:30)
 * 7) "One Day Like This" Elbow (2008) (3:37–4:30)

Music video
The music video shows the Animated All Star Band meeting and recording the song in a studio, with Big Chris, the character voiced by Kay in Roary the Racing Car, first arranging the recording session and then leading the singing.

The music video features 100 cartoon characters from production companies. Nearly all of the characters are voiced by their original UK voice artists including Paul McCartney (who was a member of the band The Beatles who recorded "Hey Jude", which is sung here) as Thomas the Tank Engine. And Tweety is voiced by Mel Blanc Most of the contributions are stop motion characters. Some who are not are appeared on a TV screen within the stop motion world "TV satellite", including US cartoon characters Sylvester And Tweety, Fluffy Gardens. Roobarb and Custard, Peppa Pig and Muffin the Mule are also included. Cartoon characters Tom And Jerry and Angelina Ballerina are appeared on Big Chris' cellphone.

The video Begins with Big Chris at night talking to Postman Pat on the phone, saying he wants to get everyone together for the recording. Bob the Builder sings the first song, joined by Postman Pat and Fireman Sam. Fifi sings "Jai Ho", by other female characters, before realising his mistake and joining the men for their new rendition of "Tubthumping", and then the entire cast sing a montage of Take That's "Never Forget", The Beatles's "Hey Jude", and Elbow's "One Day Like This". At the end of the video, Chippy Minton appears, only to be informed by Big Chris that they have just finished.