Stand Up To Cancer, a live TV fundraiser for Cancer Research UK, has raised over £14.5m so far, the charity has said.

The live TV fundraiser, organised by the charity together with Channel 4, was watched by 4.5m people on Friday night. Donations for the night and events surrounding it are still being received.

Dr Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said:  “Friday night was the culmination of an amazing campaign that has seen the nation come together to turn the tables on cancer.

“I’d personally like to thank everyone who joined us to Stand Up To Cancer this year – through contributing on the night, watching the show, buying our merchandise, taking part in our events and fundraising for us over the past few months.  Thanks to the generous public, we are getting ever closer to our goal of beating this disease. Your donations will fund vital research which will turn breakthroughs in our labs into better treatments for patients sooner and help us save more lives.”

The hashtags #standuptocancer and #SU2C trended on Twitter all night on Friday, receiving over 125,000 mentions on the social network.

The event first ran in 2012, raising £8m for CRUK.  
This year saw Breakthrough Breast Cancer collaborating with CRUK as research partners. A proportion of the money raised for the campaign will fund selected research projects that will bring new breast cancer treatments to patients faster.