In news that will delight people of a certain age, who have fond memories of eating their tea while watching it in the 90s, Byker Grove is coming back, with Ant and Dec as its executive producers. And the presenters' key role in the reboot comes after the CBBC show shot them to massive TV fame.
While they have now been best mates for years, Ant and Dec didn't know each other before they both landed a role in the Newcastle set drama, which was on TV for 17 years and will now return as BYKER, thanks to the presenters' firm Mitre Studios, together with Sunderland's Fulwell73.
Dec relived his 'horrific' audition for Byker Grove as he and Ant filmed their ITV show DNA Journey in 2019, with him telling Ant: "We had to get into groups and make a map of the world, and lie on the floor. I just curled up in a ball and became Australia." Speaking in 2011, Ant admitted that he nearly didn't go for his audition, having hid the letter about from his mam. He explained: "She frog-marched me there and said to me ‘I don’t mind if you get the part and don’t take it. But if you don’t even go to the audition, you will never know what could have been.’"
