Ant and Dec say 'it will be emotional' as they bid farewell to ITV's Saturday Night Takeaway

Ant and Dec have warned that the final episode of ITV's Saturday Night Takeaway will be a tear jerker - as they wave goodbye to the hit show after 22 years.

The Geordie duo have made the decision to rest their ITV1 variety show indefinitely after 20 series. A special two-hour show will end the series in style, featuring Simon Cowell, Davina McCall, Rylan Clark, Oti Mabuse, Amanda Holden, Dermot O’Leary, Craig David and Girls Aloud, reports The Mirror.

The show first exploded onto TV screens across the nation on June 8 2002 and was immediately a hit with audiences. It earned several awards including Most Popular Entertainment Programme at the National Television Awards and the BAFTA for Entertainment Programme in 2013.

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Speaking on This Morning about its finale, Dec said: “It’s been mixed emotions all week as we’ve been planning and rehearsing this final show. Saturday Night Takeaway is very special to us. We’ve made this two-hour finale show a real celebration of all things SNT from over the years.”

Ant added: “I can’t quite believe it will be the last show, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed making this final series. I know it’ll be an emotional night but we intend to give Takeaway viewers a party to end all parties!”

The pair have given hope to fans that Saturday Night Takeaway could return one day. Referring to the end-of-show sequence in the finale, Ant said: “I don’t want to give away too much but it will be a big goodbye...” Dec added: “For now!”

Speaking on This Morning, the pair also said they were unsure when or if the show would return. Dec said: “We don’t know when the show will be back and we don’t