Saturday Night Takeaway host Dec Donnelly almost quit showbiz when he was a child before his entertainment career really took off.
Dec, now 48, initially became well known as Duncan in BBC children’s drama Byker Grove. His partnership with Ant McPartlin, who played PJ, was also first seen on the show, before the duo became pop stars and eventually telly hosting sensations.
However, Dec has previously indicated he had his eyes on another way of life following an unsuccessful TV audition.
Imagine how that could’ve affected so many ITV shows now…
Saturday Night Takeaway host Dec Donnelly on ‘momentous decision’ as a child
Kids of the 1980s might recall Geordie Racer, one of those BBC dramas that aired in educational slots in the schedules. Among its cast was Kevin Whately, who played the dad of the central pigeon-fancying character.
Writing in his memoir Ooh! What a Lovely Pair with Ant in 2009, Dec revealed he had been up for a part in Geordie Racer. But after he was turned down, the young Dec apparently considered joining the priesthood.
“After that crushing rejection, I made a momentous decision: that was it – I was going to retire from acting. I was eleven,” Dec recalled.
Dec Donnelly ‘considered being a priest’
The I’m A Celeb star also noted how he nearly taking the same route as his brother Dermott, a priest. Dec’s brother Dermott died in 2022.
Dec wrote in his autobiography at the time: “Later on, when I was about fourteen, I did briefly consider following in [Dermott’s] footsteps, and the footsteps of my Godfather, Father O’Connell, and becoming a priest.
I knew right there and then that the priesthood wasn’t for me.
“Then I got the bus home from school one day and it was full of lasses from the local girls’ school, Sacred Heart. I knew right there and then that the priesthood wasn’t for me.”
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Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway is repeated on ITV2 on Sunday March 24 at 12.05pm, and on ITV1 on the same day at 2.15pm.
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