Entertainment

Ant and Dec to release new book marking 30 years in spotlight

The duo first appeared on screen together in Byker Grove.
The duo first appeared on screen together in Byker Grove. The duo first appeared on screen together in Byker Grove.

Ant and Dec have promised to “lift back the curtain” on their careers in a new book to mark 30 years on the small screen.

Once Upon A Tyne: Celebrating 30 Years Together On Telly will be published in the autumn.

Ant returned to the spotlight last year following his arrest for drink-driving and his break from presenting.

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Oh, what a charade! But we won’t give the game away here👇👇 . . . . . A bit of news from our lockdowns to yours… this year we’ll have been working together for 30 years (blimey!) and we’re writing a book to mark the anniversary. Stories from our time on the telly (and that brief period of time when we were basically 90s pop sensations!) Excited for you to have a flick through… less excited for you to see the photos we’re including, but we accidentally promised we’d put them in and there’s no backing out of that now! Published on the 3rd September and if you’d like to preorder there’s a little link in our bio. Sending you all lots of love during these strange times x #OnceUponATyne

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He said: “We wanted to write this book to mark 30 incredible years.

“If you had told the 14-year-old us that we’d still be working together on some of the biggest TV shows in the world, we’d have laughed you out of Byker Grove.

“It would have been too much for our tiny minds to comprehend but here we are still together and still having more fun than anyone really should be having at work.”

He added: “We also wanted to take this opportunity to stop and look back so that we can look forward at what the next 30 years may hold and what our renewed ambitions will be.

“It is our way of giving people more than just what they see on TV, lifting back the curtain on our career so far and sharing the moments and stories that still make us smile.”

Ant and Dec’s new book (Sphere/PA)

Dec said their time together had “gone by in a flash”.

He said of writing the book: “It has, until now involved a lot of tea (green for me, builders for Ant), chocolate biscuits and laughter.

“In this final period of writing it is mostly video calls with dogs on our knees, but still trying to make each other laugh – which in essence is what we’ve spent the last 30 years doing!”

Emily Barrett, senior commissioning editor at publisher Sphere said: “In this currently strange and anxious period of time we find ourselves in, it’s good to have positive and exciting things to look forward to and, with this book, Ant and Dec are giving their fans just that.”

This year marks 30 years since the I’m A Celebrity, Saturday Night Takeaway and Britain’s Got Talent presenters first appeared as PJ & Duncan in Byker Grove.

The Geordie duo’s debut book was published in 2009.

Once Upon A Tyne: Celebrating 30 Years Together On Telly is out on September 3.