Ant & Dec Agree Further Two Year Deal With ITV

ITV and entertainment stars Ant and Dec, have agreed a new deal to keep them exclusively at ITV until at the end of 2009. Ant and Dec, two of Britain’s most popular television presenters, have been exclusively signed to ITV since 2000.

During that time they have presented a number of hit shows for the network including five series of smash hit reality show I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Ant and Dec’s Gameshow Marathon and two series of the highest rating talent show of recent years, Pop Idol.

In 2002 Ant and Dec, with Granada, developed and launched their own primetime format, Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, the series continues to go from strength to strength with more than 8 million viewers tuning into the last series. And last month over 7.5 million viewers tuned in to see one lucky contestant win £1 million in the second series of Ant and Dec’s latest project Pokerface.

Simon Shaps, ITV’s Director of Television said: “Ant and Dec have become synonymous with ITV and they have played a huge role in making the channel the home of entertainment programming in the UK. I’m thrilled that we are able to extend our deal with Ant and Dec and take our exclusive partnership into its ninth year.”

Paul Jackson, ITV’s Director of Entertainment and Comedy added: “Ant and Dec are undoubtedly the nation’s favourite TV presenters with an incredible amount of talent and appeal for ITV’s viewers. To be able to continue working with them exclusively is an absolute delight and we’re looking forward to building upon existing formats and developing some exciting new ones over the next two years.”

Ant and Dec joined ITV in 1998 as presenters and co-creators of the highly successful Saturday morning show, SM:TV Live and CD:UK, which became cult viewing amongst children and adults alike and won countless awards. Over the past three years, Ant and Dec have continued to sweep the board at awards shows including nine National Television Awards, winner “Best Entertainment Presenter” for the last six years running, two GQ Awards, seven British Comedy Awards and numerous TV Quick Awards.

Commenting on the new deal, Anthony McPartlin said: “We have already enjoyed a long and successful relationship with ITV and are more than delighted to be extending it.” Declan Donnelly adds: “ITV has been our home for nearly a decade and we are looking forward to continuing to make and host the shows we love as well as developing new, fresh and exciting ideas for the future.”