Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway

Last updated

Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway logo.jpg
Genre Light entertainment
Game show
Comedy
Created by
Presented by Ant & Dec
Starring See cast
Narrated byVarious celebrity guest stars
Opening theme"Saturday" (originally by Norma Jean Wright)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series20
No. of episodes139 (+ 2 specials) (list of episodes)
Production
Production locations
Running time60-120 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production companies
Original release
Network ITV
Release8 June 2002 (2002-06-08) 
13 April 2024 (2024-04-13)
Related
In for a Penny

Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (referred to simply as Saturday Night Takeaway, Takeaway or SNT) is a British television variety show, 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 a undisclosed amount of time. The show is expected to return at some point in the future as it was confirmed during the hiatus announcement on the duo's instagram post [ citation needed ]

Contents

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 5 to 9 million, 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 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. [1]

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 and final series in 2024 due to the presenters wanting to spend more time with their families. [2]

Cast timeline

Cast membersSeries
1234567891011121314151617181920
Anthony McPartlin Main
Declan Donnelly Main
Kirsty Gallacher Does not appear Also starring Does not appear
Ashley Roberts Does not appear Also starring Does not appear
Stephen Mulhern Does not appear Also starring
Scarlett Moffatt Does not appear Also starring Does not appear
Fleur East Does not appear Also starring Does not appear
Andi Peters Does not appear Also starring
Jordan North Does not appear Also starring

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 scene involving the hosts performing a comedy sketch, similar to the cold openings of the U.S. light entertainment programme Saturday Night Live 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:

Features in Series 20

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:

Former features

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, with the fifth episode on 21 March being broadcast from the studio without an audience.

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 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.

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. [6] 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. [7] 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, Cardiff, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow, Belfast, Sheffield, Newcastle, Nottingham, Liverpool and Dublin.

Home media

On 24 November 2003, a compilation VHS [8] and DVD [9] 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 [10] and DVD, [11] 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.

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. [12]

International versions

The success of Saturday Night Takeaway led to the creation of a number of international versions:

CountryTitleBroadcaster(s)Presenter(s)PremiereFinale
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Chris & Julia's Sunday Night Takeaway Network Ten Julia Morris and Chris Brown 24 February 201914 April 2019
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium (Flanders) Alles Moet Weg VTM Koen Wauters and Wendy Huyghe29 February 20084 April 2008
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Friday Night Takeaway快乐2008 Hunan TV He Jiong and Ma Ke11 January 20082008
Flag of Finland.svg  Finland Huuma MTV3 Lorenz Backman, Jaakko Saariluoma, Heikki Paasonen and Niina Herala
Roope Salminen, Ernest Lawson and Jenni Kokander
5 March 2005
14 September 2019
21 March 2009
16 November 2019
Flag of France.svg  France Tout peut arriver M6
W9
Guillaume Pley and Jérôme Anthony 11 February 2015
24 March 2015
18 February 2015
24 March 2015
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany  ? Sat. 1  ?20052005
Die Sonja & Dirk Show RTL Sonja Zietlow and Dirk Bach 29 August 20081 October 2012
Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal Sabadabadão SIC Júlia Pinheiro and João Baião 10 May 20142 August 2014
Flag of Spain.svg  Spain El supershow Antena 3 Carlos Sobera and Patricia Pérez21 July 2004August 2004
Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris NBC Neil Patrick Harris with Nicole Scherzinger 15 September 20153 November 2015

Notes

  1. Was known as ITV Productions from 2006-2009.

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References

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  11. "Ant and Dec: Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway 2 - the Best of Series 3". Amazon UK. November 2004.
  12. "Paul Lamond Games Ant & Dec Saturday Night Takeaway the Board Game,Multicolor,Small : Amazon.co.uk: Toys & Games". Amazon UK.
  13. "Antena 3 estrena "El Supershow"". 21 July 2004.
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