Ant and Dec have announced they’re bringing back the show that gave them their first break on TV.
Back in the 90s, the Geordie duo rose to prominence as their alter-egos PJ & Duncan in the teen drama Byker Grove.
And in a video posted on Tuesday morning, the Saturday Night Takeaway hosts revealed that they’d be producing a reboot of the classic show.
“And and Dec here with some pretty exciting news that we wanted to share with you all,” Dec teased at the beginning of the clip, with Ant interjecting: “Don’t you mean PJ & Duncan here with some pretty exciting news?! A little clue there.”
“That is a clue, it’s a nice clue,” Dec agreed, before assuring fans: “Don’t worry we’re not making another album.
“The very exciting news is that 17 years after it closed its doors for the final time, Byker Grove is opening them up again.”
He continued: “It’s obviously a show very close to our hearts, the show which gave us our breaks, so we couldn’t be more excited that we’ll be giving it a new lease of life.
“Once again it will follow a new generation of young people and their families as they try to navigate the challenges they face today in the 2020s.”
Byker Grove ran for 17 years between 1989 and 2006, and centred around a Newcastle-based youth club and the teenagers who frequented it.
For the reboot, Ant and Dec made it clear they’d be emphasising growing new talent both “in front of and behind the camera for talent in the North East”.
However, they appeared to rule out the possibility of reprising their old characters, instead serving solely as producers on the revival.
Other former Byker Grove cast members included Charlie Hunnam, Jill Halfpenny, Andrew Hayden-Smith, Emmerdale’s Charlie Hardwick and Donna Air.
After leaving Byker Grove, Ant and Dec initially released music under the moniker PJ & Duncan, before forging ahead with their hugely successful presenting career.
In an interview with HuffPost UK earlier this year, they teased the possibility of bringing back another of their classic shows, SM:TV Live, albeit without them at the helm.
“We learned how to do live television purely because of doing Saturday mornings,” Ant recalled. “We got a chance to grow, and as a young professional in the industry, it’s the best training ground, and the best way to learn your craft.”
Dec agreed: “And it’s sad that that training ground kind of isn’t there anymore.”
Ant added that he and his co-host would “love to bring it back in some form”, clarifying: “Not necessarily with us hosting, but we’d love to do something with it, because I do feel there is space for it.”