Ant will still appear on Saturday Night Takeaway in pre-recorded scenes

Ant McPartlin will continue to appear on Saturday Night Takeaway this evening.

Although he’s stepped down from future TV commitments, Ant will still be seen in pre-recorded scenes tonight.

They include the show’s continuing whodunnit sketch, Saturday ‘Knight’ Takeaway.

“There’s been some discussion about whether the whole of the series should be ditched because Ant features heavily,” a source explained today. “But after a lot of soul searching it was decided that the final two episodes should run because viewers have loved the series and want to find out the conclusion in the final two episodes.”

They told The Sun newspaper: “Obviously it means Ant will still be on the show in some form.”

The ongoing sketches, which include Joanna Lumley, Michael Sheen, Emilia Fox and David Walliams, see Ant and Dec trying to discover who has been stealing some of the nation’s best loved TV and media personalities.

Meanwhile, show bosses are said to still be considering how to deal with Ant’s departure from the show as host.

This weekend, Dec will be joined by regular co-stars Stephen Mulhern and Scarlett Moffatt. Stephen Merchant will appear as the weekly Guest Announcer while Paloma Faith will be performing in the End Of The Show Show. Plus, The Script will be taking part in Singalong Live.

Speaking last week, Dec said of the decision to continue the show without Ant: “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. Dec x.”

In a statement, ITV 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.”