Ant and Dec ‘cancel plans for SM:TV reunion this year’

A SM:TV reunion show planned for this year has reportedly been shelved, for now.

Fans of the 90s kids’ TV favourite were thrilled last year when Ant and Dec and their former partner Cat Deeley teased its potential comeback on Saturday Night Takeaway.

A few weeks later it was confirmed that ITV had ordered a one-off special to mark twenty years since SMTV originally hit our screens.

However it now seems as though it won’t be happening – at least in 2018.

The Sun reports that Ant and Dec have found themselves ‘too busy’ and have pushed the plans back to at least next year.

“Ant and Dec are perfectionists and they don’t want to do anything by halves,” an insider told the newspaper. “Given the massive interest in the show’s comeback, they have decided to give themselves another year to make sure it’s absolutely perfect.

“It’s now looking like it will be a 21st anniversary celebration, rather than the 20th. They’re aiming for 2019 instead.”

Back in January, Ant and Dec suggested work was already well underway on the show, revealing they had secured a studio and were about to start booking guests.

Ant told the Radio Times: “It’s definitely happening. I’m on board, Dec’s on board, Cat’s on board, a lot of the old team are getting back together.

“I think we’ve just booked a studio, I think we’ve just got some writers involved. We’re kind of at that stage really.

“We’ll start trying to book guests and have some fun with it now.”

“We’re starting to put the little nuts and bolts together, so yeah, it’s very exciting,” Dec added.

SMTV began on 29th August 1998 and ran for five years, although Ant and Dec left the show in 2001, followed by Cat in 2002.

It was known for popular features such as rhyming game ‘Wonkey Donkey’ and Friends parody ‘Chums’.