The Sewing Bee returns for three special Children in Need episodes as 12 celebrity sewers battle it out over three challenges set by Savile Row's Patrick Grant and sewing expert May Martin. Each programme charts the highs and lows of two intense days in the sewing room as hemlines are hacked into, waistbands fall apart and sewing machines and sewers alike become completely entangled.

All four celebrities are sewing for BBC Children in Need to inspire viewers to get creative at home and raise money for the charity. Each of the three celebrity hosts will also visit an individual project supported by Children in Need within the shows, to get a first-hand view of how donations really can help to improve children's lives.

Jenny Eclair hosts the first episode of this very special celebrity edition of the Sewing Bee as she welcomes and cajoles stars of screen, stage and surgery into the sewing room. The A-line skirt pattern challenge almost proves to be the undoing of chef and Hairy Biker Dave Myers as he creates more of a hip than a waistband, DJ and radio presenter Edith Bowman transforms a gaudy Hawaiian shirt into a child's garment even Patrick Grant would wear, Embarrassing Bodies' Dr Dawn Harper proves she can sew with surgical precision across the challenges despite her shaking hands, and Wendi Peters puts her upholstery-sewing skills to the test on a 1950s recreation dress made against the clock. Show less