Fans of presenter, comedian and magician Stephen Mulhern will be turning up the volume on their televisions tonight when Stephen returns to ITV's Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway after a period off due to illness. The London-born comic was advised by doctors to take time away from the series to rest and recuperate, but is understood to have been doing better in recent days and is now well-enough to return to the series tonight — you can read more about that here.
Stephen, 44, is understood to be single currently - but among his former partners is none other than EastEnders' star Emma Barton. The pair reportedly dated from 2008 to 2011 after meeting in a pantomime production of Snow White, with Emma playing Snow White and Stephen played her trusted best friend Muddles. It's understood the pair got together shortly after working together.
The couple chose to keep their relationship out of the limelight but it's understood they were together for three years. Their split in 2011 is understood to have been amicable and a mutual decision.
Emma, who was married prior to her relationship with Stephen, is understood to be single now, whilst Stephen said last summer that he hadn't been on a date for "about four years". "I need to stop working so much!" he told celebrity magazine Celebs Now.
Maybe he needs to join the cast of Celebs Go Dating? The hit Channel 4 show sees celebrities go on dates with non-celebrities, and receive advice and feedback from dating expert Anna Williamson and "Love Doctor" Paul C Brunson.
The latest series saw television presenter Ulrika Jonsson, Married at First Sight UK's Nikita Jasmine, The Apprentice's Ryan-Mark Parsons and 5ive's Abz Love, take part - maybe Stephen and Emma should sign up to the next series?
Who is Stephen Mulhern and how did he get famous?
Stephen Mulhern is an English TV presenter, comedian and magician who was born in London in 1977. He's perhaps best-known for presenting ITV2 spin off Britain's Got More Talent, narrating ITV's Animals Do The Funniest Things and reviving game show Catchphrase. He also hosts Celebrity Catchphrase and regularly appears on ITV's Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.
But before all this, Stephen was first thrust onto our television screens in 1998 when he began presenting CITV, he soon got his own series to co-host, called Finger Tips, which he led with Fearne Cotton from 2001 until 2003 and with Naomi Wilkinson in 2004. After that, he presented a string of childrens' TV shows before taking on a Saturday show with Holly Willoughby, called Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown, which ran from 2004 to 2006.
After this, he hosted Dancing On Ice's spinoff programme, Dancing on Ice: Defrosted for two years, and then Britain's Got Talent's spin-off programme Britain's Got More Talent from 2007 to 2019. More recently, he has presented the quirky game show In For A Penny, launched new game show Rolling In It, and covered for Phillip Schofield, among others, if they've been unable to present their usual shows due to illness. He can be seen on tv these days hosting Catchphrase, Celebrity Catchphrase and appearing on Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.
Who is Emma Barton and how did she get famous?
Emma Barton is an English actress who was born in Portsmouth in 1977. She is most well-known for playing Honey in EastEnders from 2005 until 2008 and then again from 2015, when her character was brought back into the series. She is also an accomplished stage actress, having played Snow White in a pantomime, alongside Stephen Mulhern in 2008, and also appearing in the UK tour of Chicago in 2009 and the National Theatre's touring production of One Man, Two Guvnors in 2014.
More recently, she competed in Strictly Come Dancing in 2019 and got all the way to the final with her dance partner Anton Du Beke. She was regularly awarded 9s from the judges and in the semi-final, she scored 67 out of 80. In the grand final, she scored 116 out of 120, just two points behind winners Kelvin Fletcher who won after a public vote.
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