Ant and Dec on their double act and Saturday Night Takeaway stunts: ‘I genuinely thought he was a goner’

Saturday Night Takeaway is the show that’s closest to Ant and Dec’s hearts. It’s also the one that very nearly killed them.

“Remember the ‘White Helmets’ motorcycle display team who were always on Blue Peter?” asks Anthony McPartlin, sitting forward and raising his expressive eyebrows. “They trained us to jump through a ring of fire on motorbikes. Dec went first, while I was put in a soundproof booth so I couldn’t see his leap distance. I waited and waited. Eventually I thought, ‘Something’s gone wrong here.’ I came out to see that all the White Helmets had formed a ring around Dec, who was lying on the ground. I was like, ‘Oh my God! It’s going to end like this?’ For a split second, I genuinely thought he was a goner. Thankfully he was OK.”

Speaking over video call from their production company Mitre Studios – named after the fictional youth club in Byker Grove, the teen soap on which they met way back in 1990 – the duo are exactly like you’d expect. No put-on personas here. No sad clown syndrome or diva behaviour. What you see on screen – the beloved pair who bestride primetime, winning the Best Presenter prize at the viewer-voted NTAs for an incredible 22 years running – truly is the real Ant and Dec.

They finish each other’s sentences. They mercilessly tease each other. They’re as warm and quick-witted as they are on TV. They even sit in their trademark positions (Ant on the left of the screen, Dec on the right). “Always helping out,” says Declan Donnelly. “Just in case you’re still not sure after all this time!”

It would feel like the world had stopped turning if they weren’t side by side on our TVs. So exactly how close did the unthinkable come? “Well, I broke my arm, my thumb, and suffered a concussion,” says Dec. “But I wasn’t dead.” “He’d come off the bike, flown through the air and landed badly,” continues Ant. “They hadn’t formed a circle out of respect for a fallen comrade. It was to hide him from any lurking paparazzi.”

The stunt was for their “Ant vs Dec” slot, where the pair compete in themed challenges. “I tend to lose, which is deeply annoying,” laughs Ant. “But I definitely wouldn’t have lost any more if he’d died.” “By default, my death would mean you’d won,” nods Dec. “Unluckily for you, I’m still here.”

The inseparable 48-year-olds – only apart for nine months in 2018 after Ant returned to rehab following a drink-driving conviction – might be all over our screens, hosting ITV juggernauts from Britain’s Got Talent to I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, but Saturday Night Takeaway is their “baby”, says Ant. “We conceived it, we co-produce it, and it’s our names on the door.” The multiple-Bafta-winning show, which tonight reaches its milestone 20th series, perfectly showcases their magical alchemy as a double act. It blends the anarchy of their beloved late-Nineties kids’ show SMTV Live (Wonkey Donkey, anyone?) with the shiny-floored variety extravaganzas they adored growing up.

“We loved Noel’s House Party,” says Ant. “We loved Russ Abbot’s Madhouse, Game for a Laugh and Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush. The stunts and sketches, games and guests. The way the viewers and studio audience got involved. We put all those elements into Takeaway.” “It’s the show we always wanted to make,” agrees Dec. “Before the launch episode, I remember us watching them putting the set up, marvelling that we’d got there.”

“We were only 26,” recalls Ant. The pair were born just two months apart in 1975, with Dec marginally older. “To have our own show, with our names in the title, in the heart of primetime felt like a huge feat for two lads from Newcastle.” “It was beyond our wildest dreams,” says Dec. “The fact that it’s been running this long is almost unimaginable. There are fewer and fewer opportunities for families to sit down together and have a good laugh at the telly. I think that’s a tradition worth hanging on to. We love being in everyone’s living rooms with such a silly, cheeky show. It feels very British.”

Tonight, it’s back for its 20th and final series. Or at least, the last for a while – but more on that later. For now, the excitable pair are far too busy enjoying a stroll down light entertainment memory lane. They don’t need much prodding to reminisce about their top Takeaway moments – starting with the pranks they’ve pulled in the “Ant & Dec Undercover” segment. They cheerfully admit that disguising themselves as Mexican handymen to wind up Gordon Ramsay was the closest they’ve come to tipping a target over the edge. “Physical abuse was a real possibility,” says Dec. “I thought he was going to punch me.”

“Gordon’s quite a volatile character and he did exactly what we hoped,” recalls Diego Rincón, the show’s long-time executive producer. “He was effing, blinding, and definitely ready to go at them. When the boys revealed themselves, Dec almost recoiled, as if to say ‘Please don’t hit me.’”

“In his defence, he did think you’d taken a massive dump in his dressing room toilet,” says Ant. “Then you left a greasy burrito on his mobile and asked for a selfie.” “He was having none of it,” says Dec. “Every time I’ve eaten in a Ramsay restaurant since, I check the food before putting it in my mouth. He vowed to get us back. Knowing Gordon, he will.”

They list Bear Grylls, Bradley Walsh and James Corden as other victims who’ve vowed vengeance. For the new series, their “I’m a Celebrity… Get Out of Me Ear!” prank will be played in reverse, giving celebrities a chance to turn the tables. “We phoned up all the people we’ve pranked and asked if they want to be in our earpieces, telling us what to do for a day.” “Everyone we contacted said yes!” laughs Ant. “Absolutely everyone! Louis Walsh is probably waiting outside right now.” “You’re quite looking forward to it,” says Dec. “I’m dreading it. Is it too late to pull it?” “Yes,” says Ant firmly.

Former X Factor judge Walsh was first to volunteer for the original earpiece treatment in 2013, with the gleeful, giggling Ant and Dec as his audio puppeteers. “We shot it as a pilot and didn’t intend to air it,” says Ant. “We thought, we’ll film Louis, see what happens – and then we’ll get a proper celebrity!” “Luckily, Louis was absolutely priceless,” says Dec. “When he pretended to use a banana as a phone and called Dannii Minogue, we totally lost it. It was similar with Richard Madeley.”

They made the daytime TV legend audition photographers for a fake calendar and ask if “full-frontal Madeley” would shift copies. They also got him to swap footwear with one baffled snapper. “When Richard tried the poor guy’s shoes on, then dipped his foot in the swimming pool to check the temperature, I lost the plot,” says Dec. “I couldn’t breathe.” “You know when you laugh so hard, the back of your head hurts?” says Ant. “That’s what it was like.”

“Nearly a decade on, people still mention that segment to me,” chuckles Madeley. “It was surrealism meets slapstick and incredibly difficult to keep a straight face. At one point, I dissolved into silent laughter, which I pretended was a coughing fit. I still don’t know how much of what Ant and Dec told me to do was scripted and how much was inspired ad-libbing.”

“The crew lost it too,” says Rincón. “Because we were all laughing so hard, nobody spoke into Richard’s earpiece for several minutes. But he kept it going and was phenomenally funny. Another highlight was Eamonn [Holmes]. We told him: ‘Go outside, there’s an outfit for you.’ He trotted off and there was a leprechaun costume waiting. We just heard him go ‘F*** off, I’m not putting that on!’”

Simon Cowell was their first ever Undercover target, with Ant and Dec posing as rappers for an American Idol audition. In a full-circle moment, Cowell will also be their last. “This time we’re faceless magicians on America’s Got Talent,” says Ant. “Simon wasn’t happy about getting pranked for a second time until we said, ‘We started with you, so this is the only way we could end.’ We appealed to his ego and it was fine.”

They’ve also filmed one for the new series, with Lorraine Kelly shopping in John Lewis. “She was the most recognised person we’ve ever filmed in public,” says Ant. “Lorraine stopped and chatted to everybody. Took selfies with them.” “We thought we’d never get the thing shot,” adds Dec. “It took hours. Hours!”

Xural.com