And and Dec both smile
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Ant and Dec drop huge hint SM:TV could be returning to our screens

Would the ITV show work today?

Ant and Dec, hosts of Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV, have dropped a huge hint SM:TV could be returning.

The Geordie presenters fronted the Saturday morning children’s series for three years between 1998 and 2001.

They joined forces with Cat Deeley, who continued to host after the duo’s departure, for memorable sketches such as Chums, a parody of Friends.

But aside from an ITV reunion documentary in 2020 – and a Chums get-together on Takeaway in 2021 – there hasn’t been a telly comeback for SM:TV… yet.

Ant and Dec reunite with Cat Deeley
Could Ant and Dec reunite with Cat Deeley for more SM:TV hijinks again? (Credit: YouTube)

Ant and Dec view on SM:TV comeback

Speaking recently with the Huffington Post, Ant said both he and Dec would “love” an SM:TV revival to occur.

He indicated during an interview in February they would be keen to “bring it back in some form”.

However, two decades on from SM:TV’s heyday, Ant also suggested it might not be their faces in front of the cameras.

We’d love to do something with it.

He reportedly clarified: “Not necessarily with us hosting, but we’d love to do something with it, because I do feel there is space for it.”

Ant and Dec do a prank
Ant ‘feels there is a space’ for telly hit to come back (Credit: YouTube)

‘We’d have been cancelled 10 times over!’

In the same chat, Ant and Dec also recalled how one appearance on the show involving Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash saw a couple of F-words dropped on the air.

They recalled how, at the time, the air turning blue on a kiddies’ programme did get a reaction. But they also noted how that was nothing to compared to how a similar situation would play out now on social media.

Ant reflected: “We were very lucky that it was on air in a time where we could learn our craft and make mistakes. People might talk about it at school on Monday or when they’re playing out that Saturday afternoon. But the conversation wouldn’t gain momentum, and there wouldn’t be a pile-on and there wouldn’t be calls to be cancelled.”

Dec added: “Thank God, because we wouldn’t be here now! We’d have been cancelled 10 times over!”

Read more: Saturday Night Takeaway viewers ‘complain to Ofcom’ over Dec’s ‘inappropriate’ remark

Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway next airs on ITV on Saturday March 4 at 7pm.

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Robert Leigh
Freelance writer