Lenny Rush, the Bafta-winning child actor, is set to make history as the first child presenter of the BBC’s charity fundraiser for Children in Need on Friday night. Rush, 14, who has a form of dwarfism known as Spondyloepiphyseal Dysplasia congenita (Harry Potter actor Warwick Davis has the same condition), started off his acting career with a number of appearances in children’s television, including CBeebies series Apple Tree House and CBBC’s Dodger and The Dumping Ground – the latter of which is an expansion of the Tracy Beaker franchise. He's also worked on a few productions by writer Jack Thorne, including on his retelling of A Christmas Carol at London’s Old Vic Theatre and his BBC series Best Interests. Rush is an award winner, too, having won the gong for best male comedy performance in Daisy May Cooper’s Am I Being Unreasonable?. As for future roles, he’s set to appear alongside 15th Doctor and Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa in the next series of Doctor Who, playing the character of Morris once David Tennant’s 60th anniversary specials are out of the way. Speaking of Doctor Who, a special ‘minisode’ of the fantasy series will air during Friday’s TV event, starring Tennant who has returned to the fan favourite programme as the Fourteenth Doctor. Rush will co-present Children in Need alongside sports personalities Ade Adepitan and Alex Scott, and comedians Mel Giedroyc, Jason Manford and Chris Ramsey. The teenager said of the presenting role: “It’s an honour and a thrill to be the first child presenter for Children in Need. I can’t wait to feel the buzz of a live show and to help raise money for children and young people across the UK facing disadvantages. “I’m so excited.” Children in Need will be broadcast live from Salford and gets underway from 7pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Canada is dealing with a series of intense wildfires that have spread from the western provinces to Quebec, with hundreds of forest fires burning

Multiple fatalities and numerous evacuations have been caused by rapidly expanding Maui wildfires that broke out on Tuesday night

NCAA President Charlie Baker wants a federal law to regulate the way college athletes can be compensated for name, image and likeness that creates a registry of deals, agent certification and uniform contract standards

Katy Perry took to social media to share photos of her posing on a scooter, modeling her new line of cowboy boots

Three men charged in the death of a 20-year-old driver who was hit in the head by a rock that crashed through her windshield in Colorado will stand trial on murder and other charges

All eyes will be on Ukraine’s president and Russia’s top diplomat at a U.N. Security Council meeting Wednesday on the 19-month war in Ukraine: Will they clash

The United Auto Workers union's already unprecedented strike against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis could soon get even bigger.

The founder of Amazon is buying a home on an exclusive barrier island in Miami where he'll be neighbors with Tom Brady, Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner

A Florida judge who issued a court ruling last year that critics said was unduly favorable to Donald Trump is set to preside over the first pretrial conference in his landmark criminal case concerning the willful retention of classified documents

As per reports, Kate Middleton is a few inches taller than Meghan Markle

Footage resurfaced online of Vladimir Putin's opinion on 'betrayal' following reports that Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner mercenary group, who was on board a plane that crashed in Russia on Wednesday. The brief snippet has since made its rounds on X/Twitter)and is taken from a 2018 documentary based on the Russian president. The interviewer asks Putin: "Does one need to be able to forgive?" "Yes, but not everything," he responded. "What can't be forgiven?" the interviewer asked to which Putin said: "Betrayal." It comes after reports that Prigozhin was among 10 others involved in a plane crash in Russia, heading from Moscow to St Petersburg, according to Russian state-owned media TASS. Prigozhin mounted a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military leadership in June over the treatment of his private military company which fought alongside Russia's army in Ukraine. Initially, Putin denounced the rebellion as treason, but charges were dropped. The plane crash has since garnered heavy speculation that it may not have been an accident. Though, there is no evidence to support. A UK Government spokesperson said: "We are monitoring the situation closely." In the US, President Joe Biden said: "I don’t know for a fact what happened but I’m not surprised." A UK security source quoted in The Daily Telegraph newspaper, meanwhile, suggested the plane had almost certainly been shot down by Russia’s domestic intelligence agency, the FSB, acting on orders from President Putin. Alicia Kearns, the Conservative chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs committee, suggested the speed at which Russian authorities confirmed Mr Prigozhin was on the plane "should tell us everything we need to know". Writing on X/Twitter, the MP added: "For Putin there is one unforgivable sin: the betrayal of Putin and Russia. "He hunts down those he perceives to be traitors, (including) on British shores, such as Alexander Litvinenko and Sergei Skripal. "Now Yevgeny Prigozhin has been added to that list, ending Putin’s humiliation." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.