Television legends Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have sensationally quit their headline show, Saturday Night Takeaway.
The Geordie pair who have fronted the show since 2002 have aired over 130 episodes including two special spin-offs.
Despite gaining two decades of success on the hit ITV programme, it seems Ant and Dec have their minds set on other aspects of their career following their decision to step back from the iconic show.
Taking to Twitter to make the shock announcement, Ant said: "Hi everyone, we've got some news for you, next year, in 2024, it will be our 20th series of Saturday Night Takeaway.
"We've got some very special look-backs planned as well as some very exciting new items."
Meanwhile, Dec added: "We've also decided that our 20th series will be our last one for a little while. The show takes up such a lot of our year, we just feel that we need a little bit of a breather and the show is going to take a little bit of a rest."
"But before that though," continued Ant before he went on to say: "We've got the 20th series to plan, haven't we?"
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Speaking about their decision, Ant, 47, told The Sun : "We love making Saturday Night Takeaway, but reaching the milestone of 20 series seemed like the perfect time to pause for a little while and catch our breath."
However, the 'real reason' for Ant and Dec’s decision to pause their long-running show could very well be linked to the duo’s recent decision to set up their very own production company.
Ant and Dec recently founded the production company, Mitre Television Limited, and even gave fans a sneak peek of their office on Instagram last year.
Mitre is named after the pub from the TV show Byker Grove, which is where the award-winning presenter first met as young actors in 1990.
Speaking in 2020, when Ant and Dec acquired a business manager for Mitre, a source claimed Ant and Dec are looking at 'new streaming opportunities,' to grow and expand the reach of their company.
They revealed to The Sun: "Ant and Dec have dominated our screens for years but now they’d like to have a shot working with the streaming giants – including Netflix.
"They’re tied up in a mega-money deal with ITV so won’t be appearing on screen but want their production company to push into the market.
"There are endless opportunities for their old formats which could end up being put onto streaming platforms," the source added.
Following Ant and Dec's shock announcement, avid fans of Saturday Night Takeaway took to Twitter to share their sadness about the iconic show coming to an end.
"I never thought I'd see the day, but this makes me so so sad. It's the end of an era," one fan shared.
"I guess times change and things move on. Maybe they want to focus on new things. Still so sad though," another echoed.
"This has honestly ruined my day," someone else replied.
"Never thought I'd be shedding tears over Ant and Dec announcing the end of SNT but here I am, sobbing into my dinner," another fan of the show joked.
