Ant and Dec to take Saturday Night Takeaway on 16-date arena tour

The duo last toured in the 90s as PJ and Duncan from 'Byker Grove'

Ant & Dec announce their Saturday Night Takeaway UK tour (PA)

Geordie duo Ant and Dec are hitting the road next year to tour their popular ITV programme Saturday Night Takeaway.

The 16-date tour will start in Cardiff next August, and will see Ant and Dec stop off in cities including London, Manchester and their hometown Newcastle.

The shows will include features from the TV version including celebrity guests, the Super Computer and Little Ant and Dec.

It is the latest in a string of Saturday night TV programmes to tour live, with both The X Factor and BBC 1’s Strictly Come Dancing transferring their TV formats to the stage.

Ant and Dec last toured in the 1990s as PJ and Duncan from the CBBC drama Byker Grove. The two went on to release singles as their alter-egos, including the faux hip-hop track "Let’s Get Ready to Rhumble".

In a bid to entice potential audience members, Dec said: “no two shows will be the same” and that “the audience will take centre stage”.

The 38-year-old added: “We toured in Newcastle when we were PJ and Duncan in a past life and we rhumbled in the City Hall but we've never done the Arena so we're hugely excited about coming home.”

Ant, 37, confirmed the pair would not irritate each other on the road.

“If we're not fed up of each other now after all these years, we've lived together, we still live four doors away from each other, I don't think these cities will bother us,” he said.