The UK’s most successful presenting duo, Ant and Dec, signed off their Saturday evening primetime live show after 20 years, going out in style and bidding emotional farewell.
Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, who have been working as a pair since teaming up on childrens TV drama Byker Grove in in the early 1990s, had previously announced this series of Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, the 20th, would be the last.
Saturday evening’s show saw a long list of guests including Simon Cowell and pop stars Girls Aloud join Ant and Dec for a final, live singalong of Kool and the Gang’s ‘Celebration’ that took in both interior and exterior settings at London’s Television Centre. A huge amount of technical preparation and choreography had clearly gone into the production, which finished with Ant and Dec back on stage, thanking everyone before finally putting their arms round each other and walking off.
Ant and Dec broke down as they thanked the audience for a show they said they had thought might last a couple of years when they debuted it in 2002.
Ant said: “This is the kind of show Dec and I watched every Saturday night growing up, so it’s been an honour and a privilege to have made this show and to have been part of your Saturday nights for over 20 years.”
Donnelly choked up as he said: “When we started back in 2002, we thought we’d be lucky if we got to do this for a couple of years — what’s happened is beyond our wildest dreams.
“We’ve truly adored every second but there’s one thing we’ve never, ever forgotten and that’s the fact this isn’t our show — it’s your show.”
The pair will continue to be on screen for their employer ITV. Besides Takeaway, they present Britain’s Got Talent and later in the year will return to the Australian jungle for hosting duties on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!