An astonishing number of famous faces from stage, screen, and sport are swapping home comforts for 26.2 miles of running, jogging and walking, as they take on the challenge of the 44th TCS London Marathon for various charities on Sunday 21 April 2024.

After a world record 578,374 had entered the ballot for this year's race there will be around 50,000 participants and for millions of roadside and global TV fans there will be the chance to spot familiar faces like award-winning comedian and TV presenter Romesh Ranganathan, Golden Globe-winning actor Ruth Wilson MBE, and Phil Dunster, star of Emmy award-winning show Ted Lasso, who are all making their London Marathon debuts.

The 45-year-old BAFTA winner Romesh Ranganathan has been a patron of Campaign Against Living Miserably – or CALM – since October 2023 and will be running in support of the mental health charity. CALM runs a free, confidential, and anonymous helpline as well as a web chat service, offering help, advice, and information to anyone who is struggling or in crisis. 

Ranganathan said: “If you told me a couple of years ago that I’d be running a marathon, I’d have told you there was no chance – but CALM's work is so important that I’m going to break a lifelong promise to myself, invest in some nipple-tape and run the London Marathon for them this April.”

Ruth Wilson is best known for her performances in shows such as Jane Eyre, Luther, His Dark Materials and The Affair. She is running with her three brothers for the charity Alzheimer’s Research UK, which has supported her family following their father’s Alzheimer's diagnosis.

Phil Dunster, who played Jamie Tartt in the hit sports comedy-drama Ted Lasso, is running for Young Lives vs Cancer. He has a personal association with the charity after his cousin's son, Rory, was diagnosed with a brain tumour aged just four months old. The charity helped the family throughout Rory’s illness and when he passed away, they were on hand to offer guidance and emotional support.

Also on the start line will be East Enders actors Emma Barton and Jamie Borthwick. They will be taking part as their characters, Honey and Jay, for a special episode of the London-based soap in which the pair run the 2024 TCS London Marathon in memory of Jay’s wife, Lola, who died of a brain tumour in a storyline from 2023.

Other celebrities taking part include the former Doctor Who and Emmy-winning actor Christopher Eccleston, running to raise awareness for the charity The Big Issue, and The Only Way Is Essex star Chloe Meadows who is raising funds for the charity Crohn’s & Colitis UK. Meadows was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis six years ago and is now raising awareness of the condition in the hope others will seek medical advice.

Sky Sports F1 presenter and Flackstock co-founder Natalie Pinkham is running on behalf of the 2024 TCS London Marathon’s Official Charity of the Year, Samaritans, in memory of her friend Caroline Flack, who tragically took her own life in 2020. Samaritans offer support and guidance to people in their time of need and help them to believe that a future is possible.

Pinkham said: “I’m so proud to be running the 2024 TCS London Marathon in support of Samaritans, the Official Charity of the Year, and in memory of my beautiful friend, Caroline Flack. Samaritans is one of the charities we support at Flackstock and I love everything that it stands for. I know what a difference the money raised will make and the lives it will save. It’s going to be a tough challenge, but any time I have a low moment, I think of Flacky and dig a bit deeper.”

The 2024 TCS London Marathon will also host stars from the world of sport. Former rugby league players Jamie Peacock and Jamie Jones-Buchanan will swap scrums for runs as they participate in aid of the charity Sue Ryder Care, while former Wales rugby union legend Shane Williams will run his fifth London Marathon for the Velindre Cancer Centre.

The 2022 Commonwealth Games judo gold medal winner, Joe Kellaway, will be hoping to take down the stigma surrounding mental health as he runs his first London Marathon for the Mental Health Foundation.

Paralympians Danny Crates and Richard Whitehead will be among hundreds taking part with a disability at the 2024 TCS London Marathon. Crates, a former 800m Paralympic world-record holder who won gold in Athens in 2004, will be taking part in support of Sports Aid, while 200m T42 world-record holder and four-time Paralympic medal winner Whitehead hopes to raise awareness for his foundation, The Richard Whitehead Foundation, which he set up to help remove the barriers people with disabilities face when trying to access sport.

A record 49,272 runners ran the TCS London Marathon last year and with 48,000 finishers this was the biggest London Marathon to date, easily eclipsing the previous record of 42,549 finishers in 2019. The 2024 TCS London Marathon looks set to break more participation records, as well as being perhaps the most star-studded event to date.

Previous London Marathon results and reports are at runABC’s race listing here.

Image courtesy of London Marathon Media