The 71-year-old, who recently announced he would step down from presenting his Radio 2 breakfast show next year, says he has no plans to retire from the annual programme.

“They’re going to have to shoot me to get me off that,” he told BBC News.

Wogan was speaking at the launch of the single All You Need is Love, which will raise money for Children In Need. The group of performers includes Paloma Faith, Andrea Corr, Lee Mead, Peter Gabriel and Wogan himself. The single will be released on Monday.

Last year, Wogan also announced that he was stepping down as commentator on the European Song Contest, a role he has performed for over three decades. But the presenter said he would continue to front the yearly Children In Need show, a cause that is close to his heart.

“I will be doing that until hell freezes over, or at least until the public get fed up of me,” he added. “For me it’s the most important thing I do all year. And for the BBC it’s the most important thing they do all year because it’s cohesive.

“It brings the whole BBC together, which is what the BBC was designed to be. It’s such a worthwhile thing to do.”

The exclusive contract is reportedly worth £20 million to the pair, representing a 10% cut in pay compared with last year. ITV declined to comment.

“We are delighted to sign with ITV for another two years,” said 33-year-old Anthony McPartlin.

Declan Donnelly, 34, added: “We’re particularly excited about the new media opportunities, which will allow us to make fresh and exciting content for online.”

The hosts of Britain’s Got Talent also revealed they will be presenting a new show, called Push the Button. The games show will pit two families against each other in a series of timed challenges, according to the trade magazine Broadcast, with each episode beginning with Ant and Dec surprising contestants in their own homes.

The duo, who rose to fame as teenage actors on the children’s soap Byker Grove, joined ITV in 1998 on the Saturday morning shows SM:TV Live and CD:UK. They have worked exclusively for the channel since 2000.

Back in August, Anthony McPartlin told an audience at the Edinburgh International Television Festival that the pair was prepared to take a pay cut during a financially troubling period for the industry.

“We work for a commercial broadcaster and we are paid the going rate,” he explained.

Peter Fincham, ITV director of television, channels and online, said: “Ant and Dec are without question two of the UK’s most talented television stars who have helped make ITV the home of entertainment.

“They have a unique appeal and a very special quality which means that they are loved by young and old alike.”

In particular, he criticised the BBC for being “increasingly conservative in its editorial decision making”.

“After a string of scandals about taste and decency, it seems to avoid disruptive, potentially controversial ideas like the plague,” Bellamy told an audience at the Royal Television Society last night. “Time and again producers tell me this. And I believe it.”

He added that the recent culture of restraint was an “unintended consequence of the BBC’s method of funding” and the unrivalled public scrutiny that came with it.

The BBC has increasingly been accused of stifling creativity ever since the scandal in which Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand left offensive messages on the voicemail of actor Andrew Sachs, and broadcast the prank on live radio.

Last week the screenwriter Tony Marchant, whose credits include television adaptation of Great Expectations, The Canterbury Tales and Crime and Punishment, revealed he had been sent on a courseby the BBC to understand how to portray “goodies” and “baddies”. He described it as “complete nonsense”.

Bellamy said that the television industry needed to defend creative freedom because “the compliance spiral that our industry finds itself in threatens to bland out the medium to no one’s benefit”.

“If a fear of offending the audience begins to proscribe creative freedoms, then I believe the danger to our broader cultural life is clear. Our society will become less democratic; less enlightened; ultimately, less free,” he added.

Last week the BBC was criticised for being too politically sensitive when it removed an episode of the political show The Week from iPlayer after presenter Andrew Neil referred to his black co-host Dianne Abbott as a “chocolate Hobnob” and white Michael Portillo as a “custard cream” in a jokey discussion about people’s favourite biscuits.

Figures from Cumbria County Council, which serves nearly half a million people, reveal a 70% rise in the number of TVs dumped in landfill in the region over the past year. This year, the council dealt with over 50,000 TVs, of which 30,000 could have been converted to digital with a simple set-top box costing as little as £20.

Devon County Council, which switched over to digital earlier in the year, saw the number of dumped televisions nearly double between April and September.

Around 7 million viewers in Cumbria, Manchester, Liverpool and the rest of the Granada TV region had their analogue signal for BBC2 turned off in the early hours of this morning.The permanent digital switchover of BBC1, ITV1, Channel 4 and Five will take place on 2nd December for all households served by the Winter Hill transmitter.

Simon Birch of Ethical Consumer magazine is investigating the environmental impact of the digital switchover. “Digital UK is currently failing to tell the public of the environmental cost of throwing away their televisions,” he said.

“If your existing television can be adapted to getting digital TV then don’t chuck it out but buy a digital set-top box – you’ll be doing the planet a favour as well as saving yourself money.”

The government’s Energy Saving Trust recommends 14 low-energy set-top boxes. The most energy-efficient way of watching digital TV if you own an analogue TV already is to use it in conjunction with one of these boxes. However, the Trust said that concerns about wasting energy by dumping old televisions must be weighed against the relative efficiency of newer televisions. It added that TVs with a built in digital tuner require only one power supply, and can save £7 a year and 20kg of carbon a year compared to an equivalent analogue TV plus set-top box.

Over the course of the four-part series, called Fern Britton Meets, Britton will talk about faith with high-profile figures in the run-up to Christmas.

Confirmed guests include Tony Blair, who converted to Roman Catholicism shortly after stepping down as Prime Minister; Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his opposition to apartheid in South Africa; and the country singer Dolly Parton.

The final episode will see Britton interview the actress Sheila Hancock, who is currently playing a nun in the West End version of Sister Act, but is herself a Quaker.

“All of the interviewees come from very different backgrounds but what binds them together is the fact that although their faith has been challenged, they’ve emerged with strong spiritual beliefs,” said Britton.

Aaqil Ahmed, the BBC’s first Muslim head of religion and ethics, added: “This Christmas offers an exciting and diverse range of programming across BBC TV and Radio, from thought-provoking documentaries to traditional music and live worship.

“Fern Britton Meets is a welcome addition as it offers a unique opportunity to see how faith has transformed the lives of some really inspiring people from all fields of endeavour.”

The interviews will air on BBC1 during advent.

The BBC has also planned two special editions of Songs of Praise over the Christmas season - one broadcast from Westminster Cathedral, the other from Jerusalem.

“One day we’ll do an episode of Top Gear in which none of us speak. It’s the only way they will have nothing to complain about,” the controversial presenter joked. “I don’t think I’ve done anything naughty this year, though, have I?”

The 49-year-old, who presents Top Gear alongside Richard Hammond and James May, regularly sparks complaints from viewers with his close-to-the-wire comments.

In a 2005 Top Gear episode, Clarkson caused widespread offense when he gave a mock Nazi salute and referred to the German invasion of Poland whilst describing a “quintessentially German” car.

In 2007 the Malaysian government demanded an apology after Clarkson described one of their cars, the Perodua Kelisa, as the worst in the world, built “in jungles by people who wear leaves for shoes”.

Last year he provoked a flurry of complaints when he joked about truck drivers who killed prostitutes. And in a jibe at Gordon Brown earlier this year, Clarkson described the PM as a “one-eyed Scottish idiot”, referring to his partial blindness.

The BBC was also forced to apologise after Mr Clarkson asked co-presenter Richard Hammond if he was “mental” when he returned to the show following a near-fatal car crash.

Clarkson first started presenting Top Gear in 1988, helping make it the most watched show on BBC Two, broadcast in over 100 countries around the world.

The culture secretary Ben Bradshaw has warned that Britain’s cultural figureheads are “sleepwalking” into being ruled by a Conservative government that would threaten the BBC’s impartiality, as well as the production of controversial plays such as Enron.

Speaking to an audience of Labour Party members, Bradshaw said that Tory media policy pandered to the interests of Rupert Murdoch’s News International, and predicted that the traditional principle of keeping government and media “at arm’s length” could be abolished under a Conservative government.

“There are far too many people sleepwalking towards the next election, too many people thinking lazily it might have to be time for a change without realising you cannot have change to the Conservatives without negative consequences,” he said, adding that the Conservative leader David Cameron was keen to promote the commercial interests of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.

During his address to the Labour Party pressure group Progress, Bradshaw claimed that the Conservatives’ pledge to “tear up the multi-annual charter and licence fee represented an unprecedented assault on the BBC’s independence that no previous government, not even Margaret Thatcher, had contemplated”.

“We should be hearing far more noise from the BBC’s supporters about these brazen threats to its independence,” he added.

Bradshaw also claimed that the Tory mayor of London, Boris Johnson, posed a threat to the independence of Arts Council England. Johnson is putting his weight behind Veronica Wadley, former editor of the Evening Standard, as the new chair of the London Arts Council, rather than one of the three shortlisted candidates.

“I saw Enron last week and the idea that a Tory patsy running the London Arts Council would find money to fund a play like Enron – forget it.”

He added that shadow ministers had “said some pretty unacceptable things about Liz Forgan [the current Arts Council chairwoman] amounting to threats about her position if there is a Tory government”.

New rules will require complainants to clearly state their objections and back them up with evidence. Previously, people who made complaints were not required to meet these requirements as part of a formal process.

Today the BBC Trust published a consultation paper on the proposed changes, which it expects to put into effect before the 2010 general election.

Following the huge furore provoked by the appearance of BNP leader Nick Griffin on Question Time, the BBC is expecting a large volume of complaints about the amount of air time given to BNP election broadcasts.

Before the previous general election in 2005, over 250 people requested that the BBC did not show any party election broadcast by the BNP. However, the corporation said it received complaints from supporters of all major political parties if they believed another party was being given too much airtime.

In today’s consultation document, the BBC Trust said: “The proposed changes include having a clear process set out at each stage to give complainants a better understanding of how their complaint will be processed.

“Timeframes will be set for the notification of complaints, and for the BBC to hear these. This aims to ensure greater fairness for complainants and other affected parties taking into account the potential need to determine complaints quickly within the election period.”

Only parties who field a certain number of candidates and comply with content regulations are allowed to show their own party election broadcast on terrestrial television.

The BBC Trust’s consultation will close on 4th December and the trust says it hopes to “ensure that any process is in place ahead of the general election”.

A BBC Trust spokeswoman said: “There is just really a feeling that the processes are not as ship-shape as they could be.”

“We’re just making sure we have got the right processes in front of next year’s general election. The BBC Trust did not exist at the time of the last one,” she added.

US independent producer Reveille, a subsidiary of Elisabeth Murdoch’s UK-based Shine, will co-produce with Ramsey. Fox, which also owns the Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmare brands, is expected to order between 12 and 15 episodes of MasterChef.

“This is a huge, nationwide search for the best amateur cook in America,” said Howard T Owens, executive producer of Reveille.

“It’s about people who are lawyers, construction workers and stay-at-home mums but whose real passion is to make great food. This is their shot to prove they have what it takes.”

Contestants will compete for a place in the semi-finals by cooking for a panel of three judges. The semi-finalists will then compete in a series of cooking challenges until the winner remains.

Ramsay will also host an hour-long special for Fox, called Gordon Ramsay Cookalong Live, on 15th December.

Boyle made derogatory jokes about Adlington on the satirical BBC2 show shortly after she won two gold medals at the Beijing Olympics last year.

He said that the swimmer looked like “someone who’s looking at themselves in the back of a spoon” and compared her appearance unfavourably with that of her boyfriend, adding: “From that I have deduced that Rebecca Adlington is very dirty.”

The remarks provoked 75 complaints from viewers and the BBC Trust’s Editorial Standards Committee ruled they were “offensive and unacceptable for broadcast”.

It added that since Adlington had not courted publicity or celebrity status, the personal remarks Boyle had made about her were unjustified.

Rob Woodhouse, the swimmer’s agent, has written to the BBC Trust to question their handling of the issue, which left Adlington “humiliated” but only gave Boyle, 37, a “slap on the wrist”. He said that she was very upset about the remarks, and frustrated that the BBC’s rebuke appeared to have had no effect on Boyle.

He said: “Frankie Boyle has made it very clear that he doesn’t care what the BBC Trust says or does.

“He has clearly realised that this episode is a chance to keep his face in the papers and get his name out there.

“All the BBC Trust has done is churn up the comments he made on the show, which Rebecca hadn’t seen. It’s the subsequent media attention that has been embarrassing.

“We are questioning the point of dragging it all up again. There must be some better way of handling these things in future.”

Earlier this week, Boyle said he was unrepentant about the comments, and blamed the Mock the Week production team for structuring the programme around the Olympics rather than the real issues of the day such as the war in Afghanistan. He also accused the BBC of unnecessary censorship.

“The number one priority in TV comedy today is, ‘Don’t frighten the horses’, and it’s probably number two and three as well. If you look at the scheduling nowadays, it’s all just celebrities meeting meerkats.”