Ant and Dec have made the joint decision not to present a new series of Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway in Spring 2019, it has been revealed.
Troubled TV star Ant also pulled of presenting I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!’ in November this year as he continues to recover.
Production and filming for Saturday Night Takeaway February series would normally have already started by now, and continued throughout 2018 and early 2019.
However, in a joint statement, Ant and Dec said they did not want to compromise the quality of the show and decided it was best to rest till next year.
Ant said: "My recovery is going very well and for that to continue having spoken to Dec and ITV, I have made the decision to take the rest of the year off.
"I’d like to thank both Dec and ITV for their continued support and I look forward to getting back to work in the new year," he added.
While Dec said he was proud of his friend and looked forward to working with him again when he made a full recovery.
He said: "Whilst I am obviously sad at the thought of being without my best friend in Australia this year, I am proud of the work Ant has been doing privately and I am fully supportive of his decision. I’m looking forward to us both being reunited on screen in 2019.”
The pair ended their statement by saying the show would be back in 2020 ‘bigger and better than ever.’
ITV Director of Television Kevin Lygo said: "ITV is completely supportive of Ant taking as much time as he needs in his recovery and of this mutual decision to rest Takeaway in 2019. Ant is clearly making good progress and we wish him all the very best and look forward to him returning to ITV next year."
Doubt had been cast over Ant’s ability to return to his TV commitments after he was convicted of drink-driving following a three car collision in March this year.
After crashing his Mini Cooper, Ant checked himself straight into rehab and has been in recovery since.
Ant was part way through filming the last series of Saturday Night Takeaway when he was arrested forcing Dec to present the rest of the series, including the grand finale, by himself.
Ant also revealed on Thursday he will not be appearing in the upcoming series of I’m A Celebrity, for the first time in 15 years.
Dec is now set to go it alone once again, after joking in the last series his friend could never be replaced.
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