Saturday Night Takeaway 2018

Very surprising news indeed. I hope they find a way to make the shows feel not too deflated but yet acknowledge the situation the best way they can.

The issue is if his divorce isn’t resolved he might not be able to talk about some of the issues. Also bear in mind his wife does the make up for that show! Although I’m sure that could be changed.

As pointed out, it could be short term gain but long term pain. Next week's Takeaway will probably be in with a shout as being the most watched tv show this year. In the long term though, that could mean that a show that usually is in that conversation in I'm A Celeb could take a massive dip at a critical time of year for ITV, and potentially no Takeaway next year either.

Although Takeaways last break did it good in a way.

Be interesting how the show begins next week because I really can’t see Dec running down the stairs as usual, and instead take his place in the middle of the stage for an announcement about what’s happened to Ant.

What's making me morbidly curious is how they'll be able to keep the mood high while either addressing why Dec is alone, or ignoring the situation entirely. It certainly isn't something they'll get away with playing up for laughs, like if Stephen took it as an opportunity to "audition" to be Dec's new partner. My only assumption is they'll start the show as normal, Dec takes a moment to say his bit and wishes Ant a speedy recovery or whatever to a sympathetic applause from the crowd, and using that applause to keep up the buzz of the show. It'll be hard to pull off for 90 minutes though, I reckon.

It's also worth noting that their current golden handcuffs deal with ITV runs out next year. It'll be interesting to see how recent events affect what happens next.

A contract as huge as Ant & Dec's will have detailed contingency plans in place should one of them be unavailable to host. I'd be surprised if that wasn't an influencing factor in this announcement.

Short recorded message from Dec in an empty studio at the start. Then it’s dealt with and then show starts.

It will obviously be more of an ensemble show with Dec leading things and probably throwing to Scarlett / Stephen for some segments.

Gosh, I don't think that would be a good idea. Talk about a buzz killer. Plus that wouldn't be it over and done with because no doubt the audience would give Dec a lot more applause/standing ovation at the start of the show and he would need to acknowledge that somehow.

This isn't Blue Peter and Dec isn't Lorraine Heggessey. I definitely can't see them going with that. I can see the show opening relatively normally (minus Dec going down the stairs) and then Dec saying his piece at the start with applause from the audience then on with the show.

His ex Lisa does do make up for Piers Morgan Life Stories as Piers mentioned this I'm sure on GMB on Monday morning

Nice of the series will continue