THEY are back . . . but are not precisely sure what is going to happen.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun on the eve of a new series of Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, the lads admit to being in constant fear of a live telly disaster.

7 Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly are back this weekend with a new series of Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway Credit: ITV

The show is often beset by problems as members of the public fail to do as they are expected — and in some cases even fail to arrive at all.

So Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly can never relax, insisting they still remain as nervous as ever despite years of success.

Ant quips: “You have people in the audience who we may have planned this elaborate surprise for, but quite simply they have sat in the wrong seats. That’s happened loads of times.

“The person that you think you’re going to hit, it’s not them.

7 The duo (pictured with co-star Stephen Mulhern) admit to being in constant fear of a live telly disaster Credit: Rex Features

“They’re sitting three people down and you’re talking to the grandmother. So you have to keep an eye on them and check that they haven’t gone off for a loo break.

“Or, we’ve gone live to someone’s house and they’re not there.”

Dec adds: “We’ve had it before where they haven’t turned up at the studio, at all. They are the audience hit in part one and we’ve suddenly got eight minutes to fill.

“So that’s why we get nervous. You really don’t know what’s going to happen.”

7 The boys want to do their own sitcom having done a version of The Likely Lads in 2002 Credit: YouTube

7 The original Likely Lads, James Bolam and Rodney Bewes Credit: Alamy

Ant and Dec also revealed they want to do their own sitcom. The Geordie favourites told how they have held extensive talks about the potential project and hope it will become a reality in the future.

Ant explains: “We’ve talked about it quite seriously in the past. We’ve got quite close. We did a version of The Likely Lads, which we loved.

“And we loved the process of it — rehearsing it and doing it in front of a live studio audience.”

Dec adds: “You’ve got to get the idea right and make sure it’s the right thing at the right time. The other thing is finding time to do it with the three big shows we’ve got.”



Panda surprise

The stars opened up about their plans ahead of the forthcoming series, which begins on Saturday and has a string of new features, including one of their most ambitious sketches to date — installing a panda enclosure at London Zoo.

Ant reveals: “We’ve always wanted to do things with kids with the surprise element that we do with celebrities, because their reactions are fantastic and sweet and charming and lovely.

“Basically, we dressed up as pandas and went to London Zoo and created a full-on panda enclosure with proper plants and the smells and everything. So it’s part of the tour of the zoo.

“The kids come in to see the new pandas called Howai and Wayai with the zookeeper and their teacher.

7 The new series will see a host of new features, and one of their most ambitious sketches to date Credit: ITV

“Then just at the right time the teacher says that they’ve left their phone in their bag and go away and leave us with the kids.

“Then suddenly the pandas start talking to the kids. The whole idea is: Will the kids talk back?”

Dec adds: “These were the most amazing panda outfits, the most amazing prosthetics. The pandas confide in the kids that pandas can talk but they only talk to children.

“They never talk to adults. It’s a secret and we’re letting them in on the secret. So will they keep the secret?

7 The pair say Stephen Mulhern 'never fails to surprise us with his costumes and stupidity' Credit: Rex Features

“Most of them don’t keep the secret — spoiler alert! But it’s really cute to see. They’re already awestruck when they come in because there are these two pandas.”

The pair’s large-scale stunts have become a major fixture of the series, often involving celebrity spoofs. But the duo joke that they are unlikely to risk a follow-up with Gordon Ramsay. Dec says: “I thought we were going to get punched.”

Ant adds: “When we did Gordon Ramsay we surprised him on the set of MasterChef. We locked him in his dressing room then had to kind of axe the door down.

“Dec was hiding in his toilet making an awful smell. That was the closest we’ve ever come to being punched.

7 Ant says Robbie Williams is one of his favourite guests because he's 'always up for fun' Credit: Rex Features

“We then did a live link to him in Hollywood on the show and he got quite angry. He vowed to get us back. I reckon he’s been close to doing that a couple of times.

“We’ve just evaded him. Every time something goes wrong with one of our shows we think it’s Ramsay. It’ll come. It’s just when.”

Stephen Mulhern remains the pair’s favourite regular co-star, because he “never fails to surprise us with his costumes and stupidity”.

Ant adds: “We let him run with things, especially when it comes to Ant v Dec. We don’t want to know what’s going on. Foolishly, we just let him do it. He does like to try and steal the show, as you’ve seen.”

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Of their guests, Ant says: Robbie Williams is always a good one. He’s always up for fun.”

Dec’s favourite to date has been actor Hugh Jackman, who was “just amazing”.

He adds: “James Corden is brilliant when he comes on. He loves to roll his sleeves up and get involved.

“And Will Smith is always brilliant when he comes on. We love having him, it’s just getting him in the country.”

Ant and Dec Saturday Night Takeaway advert sees the comedy duo sending tweets from a bed