Since 1980, the BBC's Children in Need charity has been raising money for disadvantaged children, and has become known for its celebrity-filled annual telethon and iconic mascot Pudsey Bear.

Last year, it raised £50.5 million and the total across its 40-year history is thought to have topped £1 billion.

Fundraisers in Scotland raised £4.17m for the cause in 2018.

Here's everything you need to know about this year's fundraiser:

What is Got It Covered?

This year, Children in Need is taking a whole new approach to star-studded fundraising by bringing together some of the UK's biggest talents to record a cover album.

In addition to the usual glamorous, goofy show, in 2019 Children in Need will also release its debut album: ‘Got it Covered’.

The album will feature a host of stars singing songs that made a big impact on them, from Stevie Wonder's ‘I Wish’ to Taylor Swift's ‘Never Grow Up’.

Oscar-winner and The Crown star Olivia Coleman will be taking on Portishead's 1995 single ‘Glorybox’, while two-time Oscar nominee Helena Bonham Carter will deliver a version of Joni Mitchell's ‘Both Sides Now’.

Doctor Who herself, Jodie Whittaker will sing Coldplay's ‘Yellow’, while fellow Timelord David Tennant will honour his Scottish heritage with a rendition of The Proclaimers' ‘Sunshine on Leith’.

Veteran of the UK stage and screen, Jim Broadbent, will try his hand at Rogers and Hart's ‘Blue Moon’.

Meanwhile, relative newcomer and Yesterday star Himesh Patel will leave the Beatles behind to take on modern pop-rock icons The Killers' ‘All These Things That I've Done’

Got It Covered will also feature Suranne Jones, Adrien Lester, Luke Evans and Shaun Dooley, as well as a group cover of It Must Be Love by Labi Siffre.

The album was released on 1 November, with at least £1.50 from each sale going to charity. You can order it here.

When is Children in Need on the BBC?

The annual Children in Need show follows two weeks after the album's launch on Friday 15 November.

It will be broadcast on BBC One from 7.30pm. The festivities will jump over the BBC Two between 10pm and 10.35pm, before heading back to BBC One, and broadcasting until 12.30am.

Graham Norton, Tess Daly, Mel Giedroyc and Ade Adepitan will introduce guest appearances from the nation's most-loved celebrities.

There’ll be an EastEnders edition of Strictly Come Dancing, studio performances from West End shows Big and Circus 1903, the Children in Need Choir singing live up and down the country, a visit from Doctor Who, a Star Wars spectacular, the long-awaited return of children's favourite Crackerjack, and Countryfile presenters as never witnessed before.

BBC Scotland also plays host to its own appeal show from the BBC's studios at Pacific Quay in Glasgow.

This year, the show will be presented by Jackie Bird, and includes special performances from the BBC Scotland Children in Need choir - with 121 children from 11 Edinburgh based schools being led by Andrew Panton - and the SSO.

It will be shown on BBC Scotland on 15 November at 10pm.

Which Scottish projects benefit from Children in Need?

A wide array of Scottish projects benefit from the money raised from Children in Need.

BBC Children in Need currently funds 345 projects across Scotland with funding of more than £21million hard at work across the country.

Projects like the Strathcarron Hospice in Denny, which offers a family support group that guides children through the difficult experience of losing a loved one, and the St. Crispin’s After School Club in Edinburgh, which offers one-to-one support to children with significant additional support needs all benefit.

For a full list of the projects that have received funding from Children in Need as of 2017, head to the BBC’s website.

Children in Need 2019: when it's on the BBC, the 'Got It Covered' songs and the Scotland projects that benefit