Soap star Antony Cotton has tap-danced his way into the finals of Let's Dance for Comic Relief with a routine that was "smooth as silk".

The Coronation Street actor donned a tuxedo for his performance of Anything Goes, which gained him the highest number of audience votes.

Comedian Jason Manford, on the judging panel of the BBC One show tonight, told him: "It was brilliant. I wasn't expecting that at all - it was proper dancing."

He continued: "I know you're called Cotton, but it was as smooth as silk."

Canadian comic Katherine Ryan fought it out with the cast of school drama Waterloo Road for the second place in the finals, but in the end her version of Nicki Minaj's Starships was the judges' favourite.

Singer Paloma Faith had praised Ryan's look, which saw her don a padded suit and swimwear for the dance. "I'm loving the bikini and the neon brights", Faith told her.

The cast of Waterloo Road had dressed up as the Spice Girls for "Spice Up Your Life", with Manford commenting that the male actors were "very brave" to do so.

Others taking part in the show included impressionist Jon Culshaw, who performed to Fatboy Slim's Praise You, and a double act of TV chef Rosemary Shrager and How Clean is Your House? presenter Kim Woodburn, who danced to Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend.

Members of boy band One Direction, who have recorded this year's official Comic Relief single, a medley of Blondie's One Way Or Another and the Undertones' Teenage Kicks, were seen visiting an African hospital in a video shown on the programme.

Band member Harry Styles broke down in tears as he spoke to a nurse about one young patient, who later made a full recovery, viewers were told.