Ant and Dec’s partnership began with two actors playing friends on a Newcastle-set children’s drama. It outlasted their characters’ first run, a pop career and successive changes in television fashion. Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly went on to host programmes ranging from Saturday-morning children’s television to live talent competitions and prime-time entertainment. Their career is a story of reinvention, but also of the value of a familiar double act: audiences have watched them move between formats while keeping their shared identity at the centre.

Meeting on Byker Grove

McPartlin was born on 18 November 1975 and Donnelly on 25 September 1975. Donnelly joined the BBC children’s drama Byker Grove in 1989 as Duncan. McPartlin joined the cast the following year as PJ. Their characters’ storylines brought them together, and the friendship that developed on screen became a working partnership off it. The distinction matters: they did not both meet on the set in 1989, as a compressed version of their origin story can suggest.

For a time, their most visible work was music. Performing first as PJ & Duncan, the names of their Byker Grove characters, they released singles and albums; “Let’s Get Ready to Rhumble” became their best-known song and was nominated for a BRIT Award. They later performed under their own names. Their music career produced 16 singles and three studio albums, with a highest UK chart position of number three. In 2002 they released “We’re on the Ball” for the football World Cup. When they performed “Let’s Get Ready to Rhumble” on Saturday Night Takeaway in 2013, its renewed popularity took it to the top of the UK chart; the pair donated the proceeds from the re-release to charity.

From Saturday mornings to the prime-time schedule

Ant and Dec began presenting in 1994, with the children’s programme Gimme 5. They fronted The Ant & Dec Show on CBBC from 1995 to 1996, winning two BAFTA awards in 1996, and later moved to Channel 4 for Ant & Dec Unzipped. In 1998, they joined ITV’s Saturday-morning schedule with SM:TV Live and the music programme CD:UK, alongside Cat Deeley. Games, sketches and the presenters’ quick exchanges helped make the shows a defining part of their early television careers. They left children’s television in 2001.

Their next step was a move into evening entertainment. They presented the BBC game show Friends Like These and ITV’s Pop Idol, then developed a lasting relationship with ITV through formats that put them at the centre of the programme rather than simply introducing it. Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway began in 2002. Its mix of sketches, competitions, concealed-camera stunts and audience participation gave the pair room to perform as well as present. The programme was rested after 2009 and returned in 2013 with familiar features and new ones. Later series also adapted to unusual circumstances: the final episodes of the 2020 run were filmed from home, while the 2021 series used a virtual audience and precautions.

In August 2002, they began presenting I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, guiding contestants through challenges in the Australian setting. The show became one of their major recurring commissions. From 2007 they also hosted ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent, introducing performers and managing the live shows. In the twelfth series, Donnelly presented the live episodes alone, although both had presented the auditions. Other projects broadened their range: they presented Pop Idol, the BRIT Awards in 2001, 2015 and 2016, and the game show Limitless Win, which began in 2022. They also acted together, including leading roles in the 2006 film Alien Autopsy, and established the production company Mitre Television.

Recognition, setbacks and accountability

Public affection for the duo is reflected in a long run of National Television Awards. They won the award for most popular television presenter 23 times in succession; the run ended in 2025 when Gary Lineker won. Their awards also recognised programmes including I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and Saturday Night Takeaway. In 2016, McPartlin and Donnelly were named in the honours list for services to broadcasting and entertainment. They collected their OBEs at Buckingham Palace in January 2017.

Their career also includes a serious failure in programme practice. Investigations into phone-in competitions on Saturday Night Takeaway and Gameshow Marathon found that some competitions had not given viewers a fair and equal chance of winning. Findings included finalists being selected before phone lines closed, choices based on suitability for television, and failures to account for entries. The awards and long-term popularity are part of the record, but so is the need for broadcasters to run competitions fairly and transparently.

The duo have continued to work together across different kinds of projects. Their 2019 programme Ant & Dec’s DNA Journey followed them as they explored their family histories and found they were distant cousins. They marked 30 years working together with the 2020 book Once Upon a Tyne, combining stories from their careers with behind-the-scenes recollections. In 2022 they released a charity single with winners of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, with proceeds going to the Trussell Trust. In 2026 they launched a podcast, Hanging Out with Ant and Dec.

Why Ant and Dec deserve a place in British Legacy

Ant and Dec deserve a place in British Legacy because their work shows how a presenting partnership can become a durable part of the country’s television life. Their route from Byker Grove to Saturday-morning programmes and then to major ITV entertainment formats spans distinct audiences and styles. They did not rely on one successful show: they moved from children’s television to music, live talent competitions, reality television and family entertainment. That record is specific to British broadcasting, where recurring presenters can help a programme feel familiar even as its format and audience change.

Their legacy also rests on the formats they helped make part of popular television, including Saturday Night Takeaway, I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and Britain’s Got Talent. Their work as producers and creators extends their contribution beyond presenting, while their charity music releases show that some projects also directed proceeds to charitable causes. A balanced account should include their awards and longevity alongside the phone-in competition findings: popularity does not remove the obligation to treat viewers fairly. Taken together, their careers offer a useful record of British entertainment’s changing formats, its reliance on familiar on-screen partnerships and the public responsibilities that accompany them.

Sources

Ant & Dec — Wikipedia revision 1378528780 · Ant & Dec — Wikipedia

Adapted in part from Ant & Dec by Wikipedia contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Text has been edited and combined with the existing article; this adapted text is shared under the same licence. Contributor history.