Saturday Night Takeaway fans devastated as Ant and Dec confirm show to be taken off air

Saturday Night Takeaway fans were left devastated after Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly announced the show will not be airing next week.

On Saturday (March 12), the Geordie duo confirmed the show would not appear on ITV in a major schedule shake-up.

The programme has seen millions of fans tuning in each week since the award-winning show made its return to the silver screen last month.

So far this year, the comedy duo have treated fans with their first ever drag makeover, a hilarious prank on Jeremy Clarkson and a live marriage on national TV.

But next week it has been axed to make way for Six Nations rugby in a TV shake-up.

After the credits roll on the latest instalment of the weekend show, Takeaway fans will have to wait two weeks for their next fix as ITV bosses drop Ant and Dec’s programme and the final of the talent show Starstruck in favour of live Six Nations rugby coverage.

Six Nations Live will run on ITV on Saturday March 19 from 7.15pm to 10.30pm as England prepare to take on France.

But it’s not just ITV which will be affected by the live sporting event, as the BBC bosses are set to air the Middlesbrough vs Chelsea game in the sixth round of the FA Cup.

The pair explained: “Welcome back to Saturday Night Takeaway, we’re just having a word with the team to give them some exciting news.

“You’re quitting showbizness?” one crewmember joked.

“No it’s not that. Now some of you may have heard that there’s gonna be no show next week because of the rugby.

“I know it’s sad but that’s not the exciting news, the exciting news is that to say thank you to all you lovely lot for all your hard work so far, we are throwing a big mid-series party.”

And fans of the popular ITV show soon fumed as they took to Twitter to complain about the TV schedule shake-up online.

One user wrote: “No #SaturdayNightTakeaway next week because of bloody rugby?! Ffs.”

Another asked: “What do you mean there’s no show next week because of the rugby, why can we not have nice things #SsturdayNightTakeaway.”

A third fumed: “@ITV deciding to pull #SaturdayNightTakeaway for f***ing rugby has really p***ed me off this morning #6nations2022 #rugby.”

For more of the latest showbiz and TV news from the Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk