Get well soon, Ant, we miss you...Dec’s TV plea to friend
DECLAN Donnelly will tonight deliver an emotional message of support for troubled pal Ant McPartlin when he appears live on TV without him for the first time in 20 years.
Saturday Night Takeaway will open with Dec, 42, telling his sidekick he is missed by millions, who all want him to get well soon.
Ant, 42, is receiving treatment in rehab as he faces a drink-drive charge and the breakdown of his marriage.
A source on the ITV hit show said Dec wanted to directly address “the elephant in the room”.
“Dec is very much the solo host tonight. We’re all going to miss Ant. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but the show must go on.”
Stephen Mulhern and Scarlett Moffatt will appear on the show as assistants, but not joint presenters. Ant will appear in a pre-recorded segment called Saturday Knight Takeaway.
Ant and Dec have worked for ITV since 2001 and are estimated to have amassed a personal fortune of £62million each. In 2016 they signed a £30million golden handcuffs deal which ends next year.
Meltdown
But the future of one of Britain’s best known TV double acts since Morecambe and Wise has been thrown into doubt after Ant’s meltdown.
He was first admitted to rehab last June to tackle an addiction to prescription painkillers following a botched knee operation.
Then, in January, he announced he had separated from Lisa Armstrong, his wife of 11 years.
And earlier this month he was charged with drink-driving after he crashed his car in south-west London. A four-year-old girl was taken to hospital. He will appear in court on Wednesday.
In their 2010 autobiography, the duo insisted “neither one of us would ever be on our own out there”.
Ant’s representatives confirmed he would be taking time off “for the foreseeable future” to receive further treatment. He is likely to miss the Britain’s Got Talent live shows and I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! – and up to £3.3million in wages.
Despite missing the last two episodes of Saturday Night Takeaway it is understood ITV will pay Ant for the series.
Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, ITV1, 7pm.