Welsh favourite Rhod Gilbert made an emotional return to comedy tonight in the Channel 4 special Stand Up to Cancer: The Takeover.

The evening special focused on real-life cancer stories and raised awareness for the disease that "hits home more than anything else".

Davina McCall, Adam Hills - who treated everyone to pizza - Joe Lycett and Munya Chawawa hosted the night of fundraising which celebrated with scientists and cancer fighters alike.

Each interview was a poignant reminder of how cancer can affect and ruin anybody's life. A disease that doesn't discriminate.

The 55-year-old Welshman announced in July that he had cancer and was being treated at the Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff, where he had been a fundraising patron for a decade before the diagnosis.

He underwent surgery for metastatic cancer of the head and neck, followed by sessions of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Gilbert told the Radio Times discovering his cancer hadn’t spread was “the best day of my life”.

“I was back on the road earlier this year, I got a call to say my latest scan had shown the cancer was in the areas they knew about, but it wasn’t in my lungs or my brain,” he said.

The news was later followed by his first clear scan, to which Gilbert said: “The best thing was that the tumour had gone, and it was once again an ordinary blood vessel.”

Rhod Gilbert makes an emotional return to comedy

As soon as Rhod appeared on screen, there were smiles all around. Adam Hills embraced him in a hug immediately, commending him on his documentary, to which Rhod responded "Thank you, mate".

He discussed alongside his professor the "full-on" and "brutal" treatment he went through and the 

Rhod Gilbert's moving documentary about his cancer ordeal left viewers "in floods of tears".

Months of chemo and radiotherapy almost broke him, and he didn't disguise it in his Channel 4 documentary Rhod Gilbert: A Pain In The Neck For SU2C (Stand Up To Cancer).

One person wrote on Twitter, formerly X: "Wow the Rhod Gilbert cancer documentary had me in floods of tears. I've had radiotherapy myself, noting compared to what Rhod went through but all the emotions he went through all cancer patients go through. Thank you for sharing your story."

The Comedy Roast for SU2C

Channel 4 says: "Rhod Gilbert is joined by a who's who of British comedy for a one-of-a-kind charity gala, to tell cancer in no uncertain terms that it will not have the last laugh.

"Contributors include John Bishop, Greg Davies, Charlotte Ritchie, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Gemma Arterton, Prue Leith, Jordan Gray, Cush Jumbo, The Vivienne, Danny Beard, Joel Dommett, Davina McCall, Adam Hills, Joe Lycett and Munya Chawawa"

It is on tonight, Friday 3 Nov, from 10pm - 11:45pm.