Ant and Dec thought their careers were dead after ‘Byker Grove’.
The TV duo admitted being dropped from the children’s TV show in 1993 after four years was a definite "low" – but it ended up being an opportunity to push themselves further than they imagined at the time.
Asked what their lowest point was, Declan Donnelly told Digital Spy: "Probably the low, and we didn’t know at the time it was happening for a reason, was when we got told we were leaving ‘Byker Grove’.
"We were 18 and we were told that we would be too old to be hanging about a youth club. We were told that the only 18-year-olds who hang around youth clubs are pretty weird.
"As far as we were concerned, it was all over. We thought we were on the scrapheap at 18 and we were going back to college. Obviously, in the end it worked out alright."
The stars went on to have hugely a successful career together, and claimed the pinnacle was ‘Saturday Night Takeaway’ winning two prizes at the British Academy Television Awards earlier this year.
The show picked up the gongs for both Best Entertainment Programme and Best Entertainment Performance – and it marked their 25th year as a TV partnership in a fitting way.
Dec said: "Because it’s been 25 years, it felt extra special."
Ant McPartlin added: "And because it was for ‘Saturday Night Takeaway’ and we’d been away and rested it for four years, to bring it back and get it nominated and win was really special. It was a really special year."
Ant and Dec thought careers were dead
