Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have reprised their teenage roles as PJ and Duncan in a new Santander advertising campaign worth £2 million to the pair.
The legendary TV duo, both 46, met on the set of the ITV children's programme Byker Grove in 1989 aged 12 and have enjoyed glorious television careers ever since.
Dressed in trademark '90s baggy attire, the stars were spotted riding Antandec (a pun on Santander) branded bikes in West London. They also wore baseball caps and matching backpacks typical of the time.
The Geordie duo have been a key part of the bank's television advertisements for three years, in a previous deal said to be worth £1 million each.
The pair played PJ and Duncan until series five, which was recorded in 1993. It was in that series that the two characters formed a band and signed a record deal. On leaving the show they signed one for real and released the successful debut album, 'Psyche' still under their Byker Grove pseudonyms.
Hits from the recording, which sold over 300,000 copies in the UK, included 'Let's Get Ready to Rhumble', 'If I Give You My Number' and 'Eternal Love'.
'Let's Get Ready To Rhumble' was given a second lease of life in 2013, meanwhile, reaching the number one spot in the UK singles chart after the pair performed it on their hit show, Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.
Customers of the bank might not see the funny side, however, after it revealed in April that it is to cut its branch opening hours from July in what it says is a response to long-term trends in customer behaviour.
The changes mean branches will operate from 9.30am to 3pm on weekdays, instead of until 4.30pm. The bank said branch staff will still be available for pre-booked face-to-face appointments between 3pm and 5pm, if customers need support that cannot be provided through alternative channels or earlier in the day.
The bank said the number of customers using its branches fell by a third (33%) over the two years before the coronavirus pandemic, and a further 50 per cent in 2020 and 12 per cent in 2021.
Richard Owen, head of branches at Santander, said: "These changes will enable us to maintain our existing branch network while providing significant additional capacity to help customers who want to talk to us by phone.
"We have seen a continuing reduction in branch usage over several years, both before and since the peak of the pandemic, with many customers preferring to transact digitally or contact us by phone.
"We want to make sure we have the right mix of channels to help our customers however they choose to bank with us."
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