Celebrities including TV star Hugh Dennis will be among the 25,000-plus field at the Great South Run.

The star of Outnumbered and Mock the Week is a keen runner and has competed in the Bupa Great South Run before.

Living in West Sussex, the event is close to home for Hugh, while the flat course is a welcome change from the hilly climbs of the Downs.

The 52 year-old said: "I’m an entirely one-paced runner, but occasionally I try and go into a slightly higher speed and usually pull my dodgy hamstring. So I just potter along with my rather odd bow-legged running style.'

Joining Hugh on Sunday will be another Bupa Great South Run regular, Iwan Thomas. The Olympic 400m runner is raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support, while a group of actors are supporting of Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. Among them are Emmerdale's Chris Chittell and Eden Taylor Draper - who play Eric Pollard and Belle Dingle respectively - along with Craig Gazey, who was Graeme Proctor in Coronation Street.

Added to the team will be the likes of Casualty's Matt Kennard, Spooks' Shauna MacDonald and Gwilym Lee, who plays DS Charlie Nelson in Midsomer Murders. Josie da Bank - founder and creative director of Bestival and Camp Bestival - is competing for the first time, raising money for the Isle of Wight Youth Trust.

Bournemouth-based Professional Wrestler Warren Brady is set to fight in a pro-wrestling match at the Portsmouth Guildhall on Saturday night, and then run the 10 miles the next day.

And all runners will be given a rousing start as tenor Sean Ruane - one of the rising stars of the opera world - will be singing on the start line before taking part himself.

Starting life in Southampton in 1990 with just 2,000 participants, the Bupa Great South Run moved to Portsmouth a year later where it now attracts 25,000 runners and is the world’s leading 10 mile running event. The fast and flat course has been graced by world-class athletes such as Liz McColgan, Paula Radcliffe, Sonia O’Sullivan and Mo Farah, who won the men’s race in 2009.

The route offers a unique opportunity to run through the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and pass the Mary Rose Museum, which houses Henry VIII’s flagship that sank in 1545. However it’s not just popular with runners, as each year thousands of local residents gather in their gardens and around the course to support the participants.

The event has grown into a festival of sport in Portsmouth and Southsea, with nearly 30,000 people taking part in four events across two days, including the Bupa Junior & Mini Great South Run and the Bupa Great South Run 5k – introduced in 2011.