Ant and Dec making new quiz show for ITV following 21st NTA win
THEY’RE probably still celebrating after winning the NTAs TV Presenter gong for the 21st time – but Ant & Dec now have to put down the fizz and focus on a new project.
As well as journeying to Australia for the latest series of I’m A Celebrity, the duo are developing a pilot for a quiz show involving celebrity contestants.
As yet unnamed, it’s being created through their production company, Mitre, and could air as early as next year on ITV.
But at this stage it’s unlikely they will end up hosting.
A TV insider said: “Whether they’re in front of the camera or behind it, Ant & Dec are still viewed as a duo who have the Midas touch when it comes to making telly.
“Their win at the NTAs and the fact they’re off to the jungle for the 22nd series shows how popular their programmes still are.
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“So their new project is likely to be much-anticipated by ITV bosses.
“The only disappointment will be that they aren’t working on the basis that they’ll be the presenters.
“But they’re already incredibly busy with their other projects they’re already the face of.”
As well as doing the jungle, they still host Britain’s Got Talent and Saturday Night Takeaway as well as the new gameshow they launched on ITV last year, Limitless Win, which is set to return with a second series.
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The Sun reported in May that Ant & Dec were also set to land a new £30million golden handcuffs deal with ITV for the next three years, which is similar to the one they already have.
Mitre is the production company which Ant & Dec use to create many of the shows they front as well as other series including Stephen Mulhern’s In for a Penny and ancestry show, DNA Journeys.
My hunch is they’ll soon get their own ITV channel with Ant & Dec shows running 24 hours a day.
DEN STAR TRAGEDY
A DRAGONS’ Den contestant has died just a year on from securing a £50,000 investment from Touker Suleyman on the BBC show.
Drew Cockton had landed the deal for his scented candle business but yesterday his mother announced he had died “peacefully at home” on Saturday.
GETTING A NEW STAR
CASTING for Bridgerton’s third sexy series is heating up.
Netflix has announced Londoner Hannah New will join as Lady Tilley Arnold, who is said to be a “firebrand widow” who lost her husband at a young age and now enjoys the privileges that come with his estate while enjoying her new sexual freedom.
Hannah is best known for playing Eleanor Guthrie for four seasons of Starz’ Black Sails.
But she first made her name opposite Angelina Jolie in Disney’s Maleficent and in director Danny Boyle’s Trust.
A source said: “The addition of such a raunchy role will greatly please Bridgerton’s fans, who bemoaned the lack of action in series two.”
The next series will focus on Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington and Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton.
JOEY’S A CHANCER ON ICE
WOBBLY Bez from the Happy Mondays made Dancing On Ice history last year when he became the first celebrity ever to be forced to wear a helmet on the rink.
Now JOEY ESSEX has emerged as this season’s leading safety risk, for another reason entirely.
A show source has said gutsy Joey is so fearless on the ice, he’s clamouring to skate faster and try trickier moves after just days of training.
He has already almost lost a finger when he sliced it open during one session.
It has all made him a focus for the ITV show’s health and safety team.
An insider said: “It will be no surprise to anyone who saw how brave Joey was on The Jump that he’s really thrown himself into skating.
“Even nearly losing a finger hasn’t dented his confidence.
“The other celebs already think he’ll win, but at this stage, bosses are more concerned about him being the favourite to be first out with an injury.”
Corden's move
JAMES CORDEN is selling his Los Angeles mansion as he prepares to move back to the UK.
The Late Late Show host, who will relocate next year, has hired a top California estate agent to conduct a private sale of his £8.6million, five-bedroom home.
MAGGIE’S MISSION
SHE is a screen icon but Dame Maggie Smith is a “tough cookie” to work with, according to her Downton Abbey co-star Hugh Bonneville.
The actor, who played Robert Crawley, said Maggie – who was his on-screen mother Lady Violet – was always getting “cross” with the cast on the ITV show and subsequent films.
He said: “She’s a damn tough cookie. And you know, she didn’t need to do the job.
“Even when we started Downton Abbey, she was ten years younger but of a certain age when most people are playing golf and certainly not doing their career any more.
“She was so hard on herself.
“And she would demand, therefore, the best of everyone.
“We all knew we had to bring it to the table when she was on set.”
CORRIE 2 SAIL ON
FORMER Corrie co-stars Catherine Tyldesley And Shayne Ward will reunite in a gritty new murder mystery.
The duo have been cast in Channel 5’s eight part drama, The Good Ship Murder.
Shayne will take on the role of a former police detective who is chasing his dream of being a cruise ship singer, only for his past to come knocking when a string of murders take place onboard.
Catherine plays a First Officer who teams up with him to solve the crimes.
Talking about the role, Shayne told me: “Allowing me to combine my two passions: music and acting really is a dream come true.
“Getting to work alongside my good friend Catherine again has been magical, and all while cruising around the Mediterranean …. heaven.”
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Catherine added: “Being reunited with Shayne on a Mediterranean cruise has been so much fun and this series has been a joy to make and I’m sure will be a joy to watch – who doesn’t love a cruise?”
Still, it sounds like one cruise Jane McDonald would do well to swerve.