‘We Always Surprise People…'

Ant and Dec on how their Saturday-night extravaganza will be ‘the happiest 90 minutes of the week’

- Steven Perkins

ANT & DEC’S SATURDAY NIGHT TAKEAWAY NEW SAT / ITV / 7PM / EP 1 of 7 / ENTERTAINMENT

Long the undisputed kings of live entertainment, Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly personify the motto that the show must go on. And the dynamic duo proved that more than ever during last year’s run of their ITV hit Saturday Night Takeaway, when they quickly made major format changes to keep it on our screens during the first lockdown, with one episode airing without a studio audience and the final two being broadcast from their respective homes.

They’re back this weekend with a brand-new series, and, while ongoing restrictions mean there still won’t be a studio audience, they have plenty of ideas to keep viewers at the heart of proceedings.

Here, Ant and Dec, both 45, tell us more…

How did you find having to make big changes to last year’s series at short notice?

ANT The live show without an audience was quite scary, because we’ve never done a Takeaway without one before. It was kind of weird because we did the show with no audience and a very limited crew, we said goodbye at the end and then we got in our separate cars to go home and didn’t see each other in person for months.