''Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'' (referred to simply as ''Saturday Night Takeaway'', ''Takeaway'' or ''SNT'') is a British television
variety show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp� ...
, presented by
Anthony McPartlin and
Declan Donnelly (colloquially known as
Ant & Dec), which was broadcast on
ITV from 8 June 2002 to 21 March 2009, and again after a 4-year hiatus from 23 February 2013 to 13 April 2024, after which the show went on another hiatus for an undisclosed amount of time. A potential return for the show has not yet been ruled out.
The show's format, heavily influenced by previous Saturday night
light entertainment shows such as ''
Noel's House Party'', ''
Opportunity Knocks'' and ''
Don't Forget Your Toothbrush'', focused on a mixture of live and pre-recorded entertainment and game-show-influenced segments, as well as interactivity with viewers through prize-giving.
With series averages attracting viewing figures from , the programme proved an immense success for the broadcaster since its launch, earning several awards including Most Popular Entertainment Programme at the
National Television Awards and the
BAFTA
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...
for Entertainment Programme in 2013, as well as earning awards for the presenters. Its success led to several international versions being created, though most have been short-lived. The show celebrated its 100th episode on 3 March 2018.
Up until 2018, episodes were broadcast live from Studio 1 at
The London Studios. Following the permanent closure of the site after the fifteenth series, the programme moved to Studio TC1 at the
Television Centre in West London in 2020. The show entered an indefinite hiatus after the twentieth series in 2024 due to the presenters wanting to spend more time with their families.
Cast timeline
Format
The general set up for each episode was a selection of segments consisting of games, comedy/entertainment films, participation by either a studio audience member or unsuspecting viewer, and a show finale consisting of a performance by a musician, dance group, singer, or group performers.
Episodes of ''Saturday Night Takeaway'' were broadcast live during the weekend, during a prime-time slot, usually 7 o’clock, on Saturday evenings for the entire run of a series. Each episode was introduced with a line-up of what segments will be featured during its broadcast, along with an introduction of the hosts themselves – from the seventh series onwards, this responsibility was given to a special celebrity announcer, who would not only give an introduction of themselves and the hosts, but would also state what viewers would expect in the show for that episode, along with an update on what was still to come before each commercial break in the programme. Prior to 2022, the opening titles were usually preceded by a
cold open
A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In North ...
scene involving the hosts performing a comedy sketch, similar to the cold openings of the U.S. light entertainment programme ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
'' and usually with celebrity guests for the episode, which ended with them or the celebrities saying – "Roll the titles!"
Segments
Throughout the show's history, the programme had featured a variety of segments, some based on notable elements in Saturday night TV. However, ''Saturday Night Takeaway'' features a regular selection of segments that it uses frequently in the majority of its episodes. These segments include:
Discontinued segments
The following is a list of segments used on the programme in the course of its history, that have since been retired, although may have returned in later series as a one off. These segments include:
Filming
Filming for every episode was done both live, for studio segments and off-site broadcasts across the country, and pre-recorded for filmed segments. Live studio segments since the show premiered took place from Studio 1 at
The London Studios, and included the backstage areas near to the studio for various sketches and banter by the presenters. Although the presenters were the primary cast members of ''Saturday Night Takeaway'', the show also employs a variety of co-stars who would handle off-site segments. After 2018, live studio segments would cease to be conducted at London Studios following the conclusion of the fifteenth series, owing to the site's imminent closure and sale. Filming for the live studio segments were moved to Studio TC1 at the
Television Centre in West London, operated and owned by BBC Studioworks, in time for the sixteenth series launch in February 2020. After the fourth episode of the sixteenth series, the programme's format was tweaked in the wake of the
coronavirus pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, with the fifth episode on 21 March being broadcast from the studio without an audience, and the final two episodes retooled as 60 minute editions featuring classic moments from past episodes with pre-recorded links by the presenters from their own homes.
In 2016, the production staff and the programme's creators decided to air live finales abroad in other locations, as part of a new prize-giving format involving the provision of travel holiday packages to lucky recipients within the audience and around the country. The first finale to be filmed under this new format element took place aboard the ''
MV Britannia'' while it was docked in Spain during its cruise journey. The format's success led to further sites abroad being used including
Walt Disney World, Florida in 2017, and
Universal Orlando in 2018 and returned in 2023. The finale for the sixteenth series in 2020 was originally planned to return to Walt Disney World, but was cancelled both as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus and due to
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
closing the resort
as a result of the pandemic. This was announced on the fourth episode of that series, and all recipients of the prize up to that point would be honoured with a holiday at Walt Disney World for a later date. For the seventeenth series in 2021, the giveaway was presented in the form of a "Takeaway Getaway", allowing recipients to choose where they would like to travel to on an all-inclusive holiday courtesy of
TUI. This was also retained on the eighteenth series in 2022 as rules on international travel following the pandemic had still not been fully relaxed by then, and used again in 2024 to ensure the series finale could be broadcast from Television Centre.
Transmissions
Merchandise
''Ant & Dec's Takeaway on Tour''
On 31 October 2013, showrunners announced a live tour of the show, under the title "Takeaway on Tour", which would be co-produced between
Ant & Dec, James Grant Live, and
ITV Studios
ITV Studios Limited is a British multinational television media company owned by British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcasters, and is ba ...
. Presented by the show's hosts, with
Kim Gavin as the tour's artistic director, it featured appearances by various celebrities and performers and a number of segments from the programme, including an appearance by
Ashley Roberts (who also performed at the shows) as the host of the tour's version of "Ant vs. Dec".
Demand for tickets was high, leading to extra dates and venues being added on 28 November 2013, along with some shows having their dates rearranged.
The tour ran for only one series of shows, between 6 August – 13 September 2014 across various cities in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, which were:
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
Cardiff
Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...
,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
,
Leeds
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
,
Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
,
Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
,
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
,
Newcastle,
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...
,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
and
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
.
Home media
On 24 November 2003, a compilation VHS and DVD containing clips from the second series was released by
Video Collection International and
Granada Media. The DVD release also contained some bonus extras.
On 1 November 2004, another compilation VHS and DVD, titled "Home Delivery" was released by
Granada Ventures, this time featuring clips from the third series. Bonus features on both formats include various interviews, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and a bonus clip of
Jonathan Wilkes' interaction with the Ploppies.
Episodes from Series 17 to 20 are available on
ITVX
ITVX is a British Over-the-top media services, over-the-top and ad-supported Streaming television, streaming service operated by ITV plc. The service offers original content from the broadcaster, livestreams of the ITV television channels, Free ...
, since 2024-2025.
Board games
In 2004, Susan Presecot Games released a board game based on the series. In June 2016, another board game was released by Paul Lamond Games.
International versions
The success of ''Saturday Night Takeaway'' led to the creation of a number of international versions:
* A Finnish version of the programme, entitled ''
Huuma'' (''Ecstasy'' in English) was aired on
MTV3
MTV3 (, ) is a Finnish commercial television channel owned and operated by the media company MTV Oy, originally launched on 13 August 1957 as a programming block, becoming its own channel on 1 January 1993. It had the biggest audience share ...
. Premiering in March 2005, it ran for four years before it was axed in 2009. The show featured its own take on notable segments, such as "Little Ant & Dec" and "Win the Ads", and featured various hosts presenting it. It was revived by MTV3 on 14 September 2019, and ran for 10 episodes, ending on 16 November 2019.
* A Chinese version of the programme was launched on 11 January 2008. Entitled ''Friday Night Takeaway'' (快乐2008 in Chinese), it was broadcast on
Hunan TV, and hosted by
He Jiong and Ma Ke.
* Two German versions of the programme were created. The first version, made in 2005, was cancelled after just one episode was shown on
Sat.1. The second version was launched on 29 August 2008, under the title ''Die Sonja & Dirk Show'', and had better success. Created for
RTL Television, it was hosted by
Sonja Zietlow and
Dirk Bach, both of whom were known for presenting
the German version of ''
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'', and featured a similar format to the British original in terms of segments. The programme ran for four years before it was axed, following the death of Bach on 1 October 2012.
* A Spanish version of the show, ''El supershow'', was aired on
Antena 3 in Summer 2004, presented by
Carlos Sobera and Patricia Pérez. Starting on 21 July and lasting until late August, it was axed after one series despite getting good ratings.
* A
Flemish version of the show, named ''
Alles Moet Weg'' ''("Everything has to go")'' was aired on the
Belgian commercial channel
VTM for one season. Hosted by
Koen Wauters, the show ran for one season of six episodes, starting on 29 February 2008. It featured several segments copied from the British version like "the Jiggy Bank" and "versus" (here named "Koen Versus", where Koen would compete against a different Flemish celebrity each week.) and "Beat The Boys". The sixth and last episode aired on 4 April 2008.
* A
Portuguese version named ''
Sabadabadão'' was launched on 10 May 2014. Broadcast on
SIC, and co-produced by
FremantleMedia, it was hosted by Júlia Pinheiro and
João Baião, and ran for only one series of twelve episodes before it was axed.
* An American version was initially planned with
Ant & Dec being the host under the name ''Saturday Night Takeout''. The programme was launched on 15 September 2015. Announced the previous year on 27 October 2014, it was entitled ''
Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris'' (referred to also as ''Best Time Ever''), presented by
Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris (born June 15, 1973) is an American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television host. Primarily known for his comedic television roles and dramatic and musical stage roles, he has received List of awards and nominations ...
, and produced by
NBC as part of their Tuesday night entry for 2015–16 television season.
The show ran for one season, ending on 3 November 2015, before it was announced on 15 December, later that year, that it had been cancelled.
* A French version of the programme was launched on 11 February 2015. Announced the previous month, it was entitled ''
Tout peut arriver'' ("''Anything Could Happen''"), aired on
M6, and hosted by
Guillaume Pley and
Jérôme Anthony. The show performed poorly in the ratings and was cancelled after airing three episodes, the third of which was aired on
W9.
* In October 2015, Australian network
Seven announced plans to create an Australian version of the British original, intended to be aired on Sundays under the title of ''Sunday Night Takeaway'',
though no further announcements were made by Seven following this, and their plans were later dropped amidst claims it was focusing efforts on another project.
On 19 May 2018,
Network Ten
Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...
officially announced plans to create an Australian version, under the same proposed title, and to be hosted by
Julia Morris and
Chris Brown
Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...
, both of whom host the Australian version of ''
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'',
later confirming that year on 9 September that the pair had been secured as hosts and that the show was intended to be broadcast in 2019. It was announced in early February that ''
Chris & Julia's Sunday Night Takeaway'' would premiere on 24 February 2019.
Notes
References
External links
Official Ant & Dec website*
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
2002 British television series debuts
2024 British television series endings
2000s British television series
2010s British television series
2020s British television series
Television series created by Ant & Dec
BAFTA winners (television series)
British English-language television shows
ITV game shows
London Weekend Television shows
Saturday mass media
Television series by ITV Studios