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

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Saturday Night Takeaway is the present that’s closest to Ant and Dec’s hearts. It’s additionally the one which very almost killed them.

“Remember the ‘White Helmets’ motorcycle display team who were always on Blue Peter?” asks Anthony McPartlin, sitting ahead and elevating 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 name from their manufacturing firm Mitre Studios – named after the fictional youth membership in Byker Grove, the teenager cleaning soap on which they met method again in 1990 – the duo are precisely such as you’d anticipate. No put-on personas right here. No unhappy clown syndrome or diva behaviour. What you see on display – the beloved pair who bestride primetime, profitable the Best Presenter prize on the viewer-voted NTAs for an unimaginable 22 years working – really is the true Ant and Dec.

They end one another’s sentences. They mercilessly tease one another. They’re as heat and quick-witted as they’re on TV. They even sit in their trademark positions (Ant on the left of the display, Dec on the proper). “Always helping out,” says Declan Donnelly. “Just in case you’re still not sure after all this time!”

It would really feel just like the world had stopped turning in the event that they weren’t aspect by aspect on our TVs. So precisely how shut 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, the place 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 – solely aside for 9 months in 2018 after Ant returned to rehab following a drink-driving conviction – may be throughout our screens, internet hosting ITV juggernauts from Britain’s Got Talent to I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, however 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 present, which tonight reaches its milestone twentieth collection, completely showcases their magical alchemy as a double act. It blends the anarchy of their beloved late-Nineties children’ present SMTV Live (Wonkey Donkey, anybody?) with the shiny-floored selection extravaganzas they adored rising 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,” remembers Ant. The pair had been born simply two months aside 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.”

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Tonight, it’s again for its twentieth and remaining collection. Or not less than, the final for a whereas – however extra on that later. For now, the excitable pair are far too busy having fun with a stroll down mild leisure reminiscence lane. They don’t want a lot prodding to reminisce about their high Takeaway moments – beginning with the pranks they’ve pulled within the “Ant & Dec Undercover” section. They cheerfully admit that disguising themselves as Mexican handymen to wind up Gordon Ramsay was the closest they’ve come to tipping a goal over the sting. “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,” remembers Diego Rincón, the present’s long-time govt 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 listing Bear Grylls, Bradley Walsh and James Corden as different victims who’ve vowed vengeance. For the brand new collection, their “I’m a Celebrity… Get Out of Me Ear!” prank might be performed in reverse, giving celebrities a likelihood to show 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 decide Walsh was first to volunteer for the unique earpiece remedy in 2013, with the gleeful, guffawing 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 faux calendar and ask if “full-frontal Madeley” would shift copies. They additionally received 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 goal, with Ant and Dec posing as rappers for an American Idol audition. In a full-circle second, Cowell will even be their final. “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 additionally filmed one for the brand new collection, with Lorraine Kelly procuring 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,” provides Dec. “It took hours. Hours!”

Their favorite moments are sometimes people who contain treating members of the general public. “The audience is at the heart of everything we do,” says Ant. “Officiating at a live wedding was lovely. We gave away a house, which we were delighted to be a part of. ‘The Happiest Minute of the Week’, where we give holidays to deserving people, is just out-and-out joy.”

Another beloved characteristic is the duo’s mischievous mini-mes, Little Ant and Dec – two younger look-and-soundalikes. “We’d get invited to premieres and junkets,” remembers Dec. “We’d always say, ‘We’re too busy, but imagine if we could send doppelgangers.’ Someone on the production team said, ‘Why don’t you send little versions of yourselves instead?’ So we did. They interviewed Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street and asked Victoria Beckham about the birds and the bees.”

The unique tykes outgrew the function. “Eventually they were taller than us,” says Ant. “Suddenly we were Little Ant and Dec, so we had to send them on their merry way. But we couldn’t do a 20th series without bringing them back, so we’ve recast them. We’ve found some more six-year-old cheeky Geordies to harass famous people and wreak havoc.”

However, the brand new variations almost precipitated a diplomatic incident in their native North East. “We found one who was great but he turned out to be from Sunderland,” says Rincón. “The boys were like, ‘Er, no. We love him but we’ll get slaughtered if one of the Littles is a Mackem. Please find a Geordie instead.’”

The pair have learnt to embrace the mishaps that inevitably happen. “When we did a live finale at Disney World in Florida, the boys played this game inside massive balloons,” remembers Rincón. “One of them popped, leaving Dec there in his tighty whiteys. Somehow the force of the balloon had pulled his trousers down. We were mortified, but the audience loved it.”

“When you’re live, you can’t hide,” shrugs Dec ruefully. “We always laugh about the time we cut to a lady’s living room and she was so overjoyed, she whipped her wig off and swung it around. You couldn’t script it. That’s the beauty of the show. Viewers relish it when it goes a bit wrong.”

Who stands out from their gallery of A-list visitors? “Michael Bublé,” says Ant. “He’s got a brilliant sense of humour.” “Hugh Jackman was great,” says Dec. “Such a lovely fella.” “I got starstruck when Mark Hamill came on,” says Ant. “I couldn’t stop thinking ‘It’s Luke Skywalker!’ In the early days, a lot of the American stars just didn’t get it. Will Smith couldn’t understand what was going on.” “I’m surprised he didn’t give us a slap in the face!” laughs Dec.

“Richard E Grant was a good ’un,” provides Rincón. “He was like, ‘You do this every Saturday? Is it always this noisy?’ He ended up leading a conga line during Sam Fender’s set. Camila Cabello really threw herself into it. Toni Collette loved the show so much, she offered to fly back over to do a ‘Get Out of Me Ear’. Ed Sheeran was game for anything, too. He arrived as we were filming a sketch with the boys dressed as superheroes and said, ‘Can I be in this?’ We were like, ‘Of course! But we don’t have an outfit for you.’ He said, ‘Oh, I’ll wear whatever.’ We ended up finding him a random pair of gold shorts.”

As for a dream reserving, they instantly identify Elton John. “We’d love Sir Elton to open the show behind the piano, banging out ‘Saturday, Saturday!’” says Dec. “We’ve asked a few times and he’s always busy. Or that’s what he tells us! But you never know, the last episode might appeal. Watch this space.”

Ah sure, the final episode. It was a robust resolution to place Takeaway on hiatus, however they had been on the identical web page. “Twenty series just feels like a natural point to pause,” says Dec. “We don’t want to say we’ll never do it again. But we’ve both got families now. Our lives have changed dramatically. We want to step off the hamster wheel, catch our breath and decide what’s next.” “It will be bittersweet, with lots of tears, but it feels like the right thing,” provides Ant (who’s at the moment anticipating his first youngster together with his spouse Anne-Marie Corbett).

Over the subsequent seven Saturdays, they promise to “go out with a proper bang”. The collection will shock viewers with new components whereas reminiscent of previous highlights. Raiding the archives has proved eye-opening. “The ever-changing hairstyles!” laughs Dec. “The ever-changing weights!” provides Ant.

Fortunately, because of their teen pop days as PJ & Duncan (utilizing the names of their Byker Grove characters), they’re successfully embarrassment-proof. “Before Christmas, there was a clip going around of us singing ‘Eternal Love’ on This Morning 30 years ago,” says Ant. “Now that’s embarrassing! When you’ve had a pop career, nothing will ever top that for cringe factor.”

In April, festivities will attain fever pitch for the grand finale. “We’re throwing everything at the last show,” reveals Rincón. “It’s an extended two-hour special with a second stage and outdoor audience. We might do something on the roof of Television Centre. Bags of celebs will be joining in the fun.”

Takeaway has gone off-air earlier than, with a hiatus from 2009 to 2013, so this may merely be a non permanent break. “When we paused it last time, the show came back rejuvenated,” says Rincón. “I can’t see us being away for ever.” As Madeley says: “It’s a great format with great hosts. I’d be very surprised if it doesn’t return some day – with Ant and Dec whispering in a lot more ears.”

“We’ve grown up on this show,” says Ant wistfully. “It’s been an eventful 20 years. So much has happened. It feels like we’ve been doing it since we were in short trousers.” “Oi!” says Dec. “All my trousers are short.”

‘Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway’ returns to ITV1 at 7pm tonight