Saturday Night Takeaway hosts Ant and Dec are telly legends – and it turns out Phillip Schofield has been on hand to offer them some help along the way.
Since shooting to fame in the 1990s, the Geordie lads have cemented themselves as one of the UK’s much-loved duos. From BGT to Saturday Night Takeaway, Ant and Dec have kept busy over the years!
But at the start of their career, the boys received some wise words of wisdom from telly veteran Phillip Schofield.
Saturday Night Takeaway hosts Ant and Dec on SMTV: Live
We might be more used to seeing Ant and Dec on Saturday Night Takeaway or I’m A Celebrity these days. But children of the 90s will remember a different show.
Ant and Dec kicked off their career on the children’s series, SMTV: Live. The much-loved show featured the boys Ant and Dec co-presenting with Brummie legend and and This Morning star Cat Deeley. And it’s fair to say the trio entertained viewers with sketches, competitions and ridiculous games on the show.
Back in its heyday, the programme was regularly very popular with audiences, attracting around 2.5 million viewers. The show ran from August 1998 to December 2003. Following Ant and Dec’s departure, SMTV was hosted by Steps stars Ian ‘H’ Watkins and Claire Richards.
‘Best fun you’ll ever have’
But before Ant and Dec started their SMTV: Live stint, Phillip Schofield was on hand to offer some advice.
Speaking to Glamour in 2020, Ant said Phil urged them to relax and enjoy the ride.
He said: “I remember Phillip Schofield saying to us, just before we started SMTV: Live on Saturday mornings because he used to do it: ‘It will be the best fun you will ever have on telly.'”
Gushing about his time on SMTV: Live, Ant added: “You know what the innocence and freedom we got on that show you don’t get anywhere else.”
Ant and Dec ‘could mess about’
Dec admitted that they probably couldn’t get away with half the stuff they did on the show nowadays.
He told Glamour: “You know what the innocence and freedom we got on that show you don’t get anywhere else. We could just mess about. It was all before social media, everyone was watching TV and the viewing figures were off the charts for a children’s TV show. Everyone was talking about it. It was such fun.”
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