Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Ant and Dec reflect on first Saturday Night Takeaway as they kick off series 20

Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway returned to ITV (ITV/PA)
Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway returned to ITV (ITV/PA)

Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have kicked off the 20th series of Saturday Night Takeaway by reflecting on their first show over two decades ago.

Saturday’s episode of the live variety show sees the return of popular segments including undercover prank, with music mogul Simon Cowell set to be the first victim.

The Geordie duo will take a break from the show at the conclusion of the series, after saying the 20th “milestone” seemed like the “perfect time to pause for a little while and catch our breath”.

Donnelly opened the show, saying: “Hello and welcome to a brand new series of your Saturday Night Takeaway.”

After they were greeted by rapturous applause, McPartlin said: “You’re a brilliant audience – welcome to the show everyone and welcome to series 20.”

Donnelly added: “I actually can’t believe the first episode of Saturday Night Live was almost 22 year ago” before they showed a photo of the pair from June 8 2002 – their first show.

They also turned the tables on their audience, showing pictures from years ago of people sitting in the studio and at home watching the live show.

Before they started normal proceedings, they surprised a couple of Saturday Night Takeaway superfans with tickets to watch the show from the studio as it was kicking off.

The duo also revealed they handpicked every member of the 411-person audience, which was filled with foster parents and fundraisers.

As a thank you to the live audience, who they said had collectively raised £40 million for charity, they gifted them all a getaway prize.

Comedian and actor Stephen Merchant joined the show as the guest announcer for the week while presenter Stephen Mulhern made a dramatic return to the programme dressed as character Dr Evil from the Austin Powers film series.

The episode will also feature a special End Of The Show performance from Becky Hill.

The series previously took a pause in 2009, returning four years later in 2013.

Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway continues on ITV.