ITV confirms Saturday Night Takeaway will return without Ant McPartlin

The entertainment show was pulled from its scheduled 24th March slot, but will return on Saturday 31st March in its usual 7pm time slot, with Declan Donnelly hosting the show by himself.

• Saturday Night Takeaway will not air this weekend
• ITV reveals which programmes will replace Saturday Night Takeaway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykkp0ztg2go

In a statement, the broadcaster said, "ITV can confirm that Saturday Night Takeaway, presented by Declan Donnelly, will return on March 31, and the series finale will be taking place at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida a week later."

Meanwhile in a statement posted on Twitter, Dec said: “Whilst I never thought I’d be in this position, after much discussion and careful consideration we’ve decided that the remaining two shows of this series of Saturday Night Takeaway will go ahead.

"We made a promise to take hundreds of deserving winners to Florida to watch the series finale, and we will honour that. Everyone at ITV and the Takeaway team feels we owe it to the audience to complete the series.”

https://twitter.com/antanddec/status/976440602811359233

Whether McPartlin will still appear on the show in the prerecorded mini-series Saturday Knight Takeaway remains to be seen.

McPartlin did a stint in rehab last year to recover from a prescription drug addiction he developed following a knee operation. He has now returned to rehab after he was arrested on suspicion of drink driving on Sunday afternoon.

Saturday Night Takeaway will return on Saturday 31st March at 7pm on ITV.