This year’s Royal Variety Performance took over much of ITV1’s evening schedule on Sunday, 15 December, with King Charles III attending alone as Queen Camilla recovered from illness back at home.
Situated at London’s Royal Albert Hall, the star-packed annual spectacle welcomed entertainers such as Elton John, Penn & Teller, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Stephen Mulhern, Cirque De Soleil, Britain’s Got Talent champion Sydnie Christmas, and Eurovision Song Contest’s Nemo to the stage, as well as the London casts of Starlight Express, The Devil Wears Prada, and Oliver!
Here were the standout moments from the RVP…
The evening’s hosts Alan Carr and Amanda Holden got proceedings off to a flier with their back and forths.
“We should probably stop holding hands now, people will think you’re my carer,” pointed out Carr after joining hands with her infront of the crowd. “Or worse – that we’re the winners of a very disappointing series of Love Island,” quipped Holden.
That’s when the Chatty Man himself decided to make a cheeky dig harking back to the countless Ofcom complaints targeting his co-star’s wardrobe whilst judging BGT over the years.
“Oh Amanda, you’re so not my type on paper… or real life! But can I say your dress looks absolutely fabulous! Just on the right side of an Ofcom complaint!” he said.
Playing along, Holden replied: “That’s disappointing…”
Stephen Mulhern dedicates magic show to his late father
TV magician Mulhern dropped by the RVP with a typically humorous routine; incorporating three separate illusions that had the Royal Albert Hall audience downright baffled.
The 47-year-old’s first one saw him seemingly tearing up a newspaper into many pieces, only to reveal its whole, unharmed form a moment later. Then he invited Carr and Holden to partake – disappearing a cup full of orange juice on the former’s head before levitating the latter.
Whilst taking his well-earned end-of-show bow, Mulhern shouted “That was for you dad!” following the recent death of his beloved parent Christopher Mulhern.
Viewers let down by Sydnie Christmas’s song selection
Having conquered BGT 2024, vocalist Christmas covered the 2017 hit tune by Imagine Dragons, Believer, but fans reacting on social media platform X felt it didn’t necessarily suit her style.
“Sydnie Christmas didn’t sing my fave,” complained one user, possibly in reference to her prior renditions of Somewhere Over the Rainbow and Frank Sinatra’s My Way.
“What a terrible song Sydnie Christmas sang. What a let down after her performances on BGT,” read another tweet, before someone else came out with: “Not a great choice of song for Sydnie Christmas.”
My question is after building Sydnie Christmas’ image around musical theatre on BGT, why have her sing an Imagine Dragons song as her big showstopper in front of the King?
She has a great voice, but that song was not it.#RoyalVarietyPerformance
— Mica Blackwell (she/her) (@INA_TheatreSnob) December 15, 2024
It wasn’t unanimous negative feedback at least, which you can see below.
Matt Forde does NSFW impersonation of UK Prime Minister
Matt Forde of Spitting Image fame treated attendees and viewers alike to a smorgasbord of side-splitting impressions, including Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Boris Johnson, US President-elect Donald Trump and Rishi Sunak.
The standout moment occurred after he described Starmer’s “very distinctive, blocked-nosed, lock-jawed voice” and what might happen if he was going to sell his abilities in the bedroom.
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“A friend of mine said, ‘Well he can’t do the sexy stuff can he?'” Forde told the room. “What does that even mean? If you had to have a night of passion with one of two politicians, would you pick [Johnson or Starmer].”
Having completed his bang-on, scattergun Johnson impersonation, the comic followed up with: “Do you choose the guy that says: ‘Look I’m not going to make any promises, but it is my intention to satisfy you as fully as possible in the time available to me.'”
Penn & Teller leave a lot to be desired
Las Vegas icons Penn and Teller made a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo alongside Vanessa Williams late in the schedule.
However, their magic routine left a great deal to be desired for fans commenting on social media again; destroying Williams’s credit card and then making it reappear in a burger box locked inside a wheelie bin.
After such sky-high expectations, their tame effort was universally panned. See for yourself…
Bit disappointed with Penn & Teller, it was like that was put together in 5 mins flat. Probably that’s why that was how long their act was. #RoyalVarietyPerformance
— Claire (@XxLadyClaireXx) December 15, 2024
Strictly Come Dancing’s Amy Dowden raises Breast Cancer Awareness
Special appearances from the likes of Amy Dowden, Claire Sweeney, Penny Lancaster, Shaun Dooley and Sally Dynevor unfolded right at the end of the RVP thanks to their involvement with raising breast cancer early detection awareness in partnership with Lorraine Kelly, Marti Pellow and the Change and Check Choir, who are re-releasing Love Is All Around by The Troggs for a charitable campaign.
A massive group of them arrived on stage to play it live and clap along.
Dowden overcame breast cancer to compete in this year’s series of Strictly Come Dancing, but her return was dampened several weeks in as she was forced to pull out with injury.
The 2024 Royal Variety Performance aired on ITV1.
