Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway is heading back to the nation’s TV screens in January – and we can reveal the duo have already filmed segments in secret.
Their friend and Takeaway co-star Stephen Mulhern told us the news as he visited schools in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
It will be the first time the smash-hit show has been on TV screens since 2018, when Ant was after he in Richmond, London.
He was fined £86,000 and given a 15-month driving ban.
The 43-year-old took a year off work to recover, with Holly Willoughby taking over his role on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here last year.
Dec was forced to present the final two shows of Takeaway on his own in 2018 while Ant took time off after his arrest.
But the pair will host the show together again in the New Year – and Ant is back to his best, according to In For a Penny host Stephen.
He said: “Ant is back to full health. He has been back on his game for a long, long time. He is all good.
“We’ve been out and about and it’s amazing what people will do to win a grand.
“It’s nice to get out of the studio and meet the public. Having just finished In For a Penny we’re now doing Saturday Night Takeaway.
“It’s wonderful that Saturday Night Takeaway will be back in January.”
Stephen was in Glasgow to visit Oakgrove Primary School and in Edinburgh to meet Leith Primary School pupils to celebrate the launch of this year’s Virgin Media’s Christmas Star competition, which gives schools the chance to have their nativity play aired to the network’s subscribers.
Stephen, 42, will meet the pair on Friday to go over plans for Takeaway and vowed to get his revenge on them for their on-screen wind-ups.
The Catchphrase host said: “I’m already working on my ideas on how to get my own back.”
● Schools can find more details and enter this year’s Christmas Star competition at www.virginmedia.com/christmas
