Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have been forced to film tonight’s Saturday Night Takeaway from each of their homes due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The ITV show will be pre-recorded, with Ant and Dec showing the “best bits” of the series the next week, according to presenter Stephen Mulhern.
Ant and Dec hosted their last live show last weekend with no studio audience, and told viewers that they were filming the remaining episodes ahead of time.
The pair confirmed the big show change last night, writing on Instagram: “That’s settled then.. this week we’ll be doing @itvtakeaway on the telly… from both our houses!
“(Suits for you at home are optional!) #SaturdayNightTakeaway #TogetherAtHome #StayHome.”
This Morning presenters Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford spoke to Stephen about the future of the show yesterday, grilling him on what was going to happen.
He told them: “I think they’re doing the Best Bits. In fact I know they’re doing the Best Bits so they’ll be on from 7pm until 8pm and then from 8pm onwards In For a Penny will be on.
“It’s actually quite nice for a change to have Ant and Dec as my warm-up. I’ve not told them that yet, but now they’ll know.”
Tonight’s show has been mostly pre-recorded, with the show airing the Men in Brown finale and some of Ant and Dec’s favourite moments in pre-recorded links while they’re at home watching alongside the viewers.
Men In Brown is one of their ongoing sketches, which sees the presenters try to work out which of their celeb pals is secretly an alien.
The show has been thrown into chaos by the coronavirus pandemic, which was put the country into lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus.
The ITV schedule has been thrown up in the air, with Lorraine and Loose Women being taken off the weekday morning plan.
Meanwhile, Britain’s Got Talent’s future hangs in the balance, as whilst the show has pre-recorded the auditions, the live shows are set to air next month.
Saturday Night Takeaway continues tonight at 7pm on ITV.
