Stephen Mulhern has teased the return of Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway next month
(Picture: PA)Stephen Mulhern has given an insight as to what fans can expect from the upcoming new series of Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.
The Standard caught up with the 45-year-old TV presenter, magician and all-round nice guy, at the 2023 Toy Fair, which was celebrating its 69th year at Olympia London.
He said: “The challenges for Ant and Dec are ten times bigger than we’ve ever done – they’ve really gone all out this year and the first Ant vs Dec possibly is the funniest one I think we’ve done.”
Adding: “It starts at the end of February.”
It’s set to be a busy year for Mulhern who has carved out a real niche for himself as ITV’s go-to gameshow presenter.
In addition to hosting Catchphrase, he confirmed reports that “there’s talk” of him taking over the reigns from Noel Edmonds for a reboot of Deal Or No Deal, “which hopefully is going to happen this year”.
He will also be filming a new series of In For A Penny, which originally started life as a segment on Saturday Night Takeaway and has become a ratings hit in its own right.
In For A Penny has spawned a boardgame version by Asmodee, which Mulhern challenged us to at the event, but we didn’t fair too well. The same goes for the Catchphrase boardgame with a new version aimed at younger players coming soon.
The London-born star laughed when asked if Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have asked for a cut of the royalties of In For A Penny, to which he replied: “Not yet, but they probably will!”
Elsewhere, former Butlins Red Coat Mulhern will be returning to the UK holiday camp for brand-new live show Spellbound in 2023.
He’s also in the process of writing his second children’s book, a follow up to the Sunday Times’ best selling Max Magic, which was only released last September.
He said: “I’m writing one at the moment so that will come out in April. I’m about three chapters away from finishing and it’s called Max Magic: The Greatest Show On Earth.”
