Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway

Format

The general set up for each episode was a selection of segments consisting of games, comedy/entertainment films, participation by either a studio audience member or unsuspecting viewer, and a show finale consisting of a performance by a musician, dance group, singer, or group performers.

Episodes of Saturday Night Takeaway were broadcast live during the weekend, during a prime-time slot, usually 7 o’clock, on Saturday evenings for the entire run of a series. Each episode was introduced with a line-up of what segments will be featured during its broadcast, along with an introduction of the hosts themselves – from the seventh series onwards, this responsibility was given to a special celebrity announcer, who would not only give an introduction of themselves and the hosts, but would also state what viewers would expect in the show for that episode, along with an update on what was still to come before each commercial break in the programme. Prior to 2022, the opening titles were usually preceded by a cold open scene involving the hosts performing a comedy sketch, similar to the cold openings of the U.S. light entertainment programme Saturday Night Live and usually with celebrity guests for the episode, which ended with them or the celebrities saying – "Roll the titles!"

Segments

Throughout the show's history, the programme had featured a variety of segments, some based on notable elements in Saturday night TV. However, Saturday Night Takeaway features a regular selection of segments that it uses frequently in the majority of its episodes. These segments include:

Discontinued segments

The following is a list of segments used on the programme in the course of its history, that have since been retired, although may have returned in later series as a one off. These segments include:

Filming

Filming for every episode was done both live, for studio segments and off-site broadcasts across the country, and pre-recorded for filmed segments. Live studio segments since the show premiered took place from Studio 1 at The London Studios, and included the backstage areas near to the studio for various sketches and banter by the presenters. Although the presenters were the primary cast members of Saturday Night Takeaway, the show also employs a variety of co-stars who would handle off-site segments. After 2018, live studio segments would cease to be conducted at London Studios following the conclusion of the fifteenth series, owing to the site's imminent closure and sale. Filming for the live studio segments were moved to Studio TC1 at the Television Centre in West London, operated and owned by BBC Studioworks, in time for the sixteenth series launch in February 2020. After the fourth episode of the sixteenth series, the programme's format was tweaked in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, with the fifth episode on 21 March being broadcast from the studio without an audience, and the final two episodes retooled as 60 minute editions featuring classic moments from past episodes with pre-recorded links by the presenters from their own homes.

In 2016, the production staff and the programme's creators decided to air live finales abroad in other locations, as part of a new prize-giving format involving the provision of travel holiday packages to lucky recipients within the audience and around the country. The first finale to be filmed under this new format element took place aboard the MV Britannia while it was docked in Spain during its cruise journey. The format's success led to further sites abroad being used including Walt Disney World, Florida in 2017, and Universal Orlando in 2018 and returned in 2023. The finale for the sixteenth series in 2020 was originally planned to return to Walt Disney World, but was cancelled both as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus and due to Disney closing the resort as a result of the pandemic. This was announced on the fourth episode of that series, and all recipients of the prize up to that point would be honoured with a holiday at Walt Disney World for a later date. For the seventeenth series in 2021, the giveaway was presented in the form of a "Takeaway Getaway", allowing recipients to choose where they would like to travel to on an all-inclusive holiday courtesy of TUI. This was also retained on the eighteenth series in 2022 as rules on international travel following the pandemic had still not been fully relaxed by then, and used again in 2024 to ensure the series finale could be broadcast from Television Centre.

Merchandise

In 2004, Susan Presecot Games released a board game based on the series. In June 2016, another board game was released by Paul Lamond Games.

Ant & Dec's Takeaway on Tour

On 31 October 2013, showrunners announced a live tour of the show, under the title "Takeaway on Tour", which would be co-produced between Ant & Dec, James Grant Live, and ITV Studios. Presented by the show's hosts, with Kim Gavin as the tour's artistic director, it featured appearances by various celebrities and performers and a number of segments from the programme, including an appearance by Ashley Roberts (who also performed at the shows) as the host of the tour's version of "Ant vs. Dec".

Demand for tickets was high, leading to extra dates and venues being added on 28 November 2013, along with some shows having their dates rearranged. The tour ran for only one series of shows, between 6 August – 13 September 2014 across various cities in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, which were: London, Cardiff, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow, Belfast, Sheffield, Newcastle, Nottingham, Liverpool and Dublin.

Home media

On 24 November 2003, a compilation VHS and DVD containing clips from the second series was released by Video Collection International and Granada Media. The DVD release also contained some bonus extras.

On 1 November 2004, another compilation VHS and DVD, titled "Home Delivery" was released by Granada Ventures, this time featuring clips from the third series. Bonus features on both formats include various interviews, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and a bonus clip of Jonathan Wilkes' interaction with the Ploppies.

Episodes from Series 18 to 20 are available on ITVX, as of Sep 2026.

International versions

The success of Saturday Night Takeaway led to the creation of a number of international versions:

A Finnish version of the programme, entitled Huuma (Ecstasy in English) was aired on MTV3. Premiering in March 2005, it ran for four years before it was axed in 2009. The show featured its own take on notable segments, such as "Little Ant & Dec" and "Win the Ads", and featured various hosts presenting it. It was revived by MTV3 on 14 September 2019, and ran for 10 episodes, ending on 16 November 2019.

A Chinese version of the programme was launched on 11 January 2008. Entitled Friday Night Takeaway (快乐2008 in Chinese), it was broadcast on Hunan TV, and hosted by He Jiong and Ma Ke.

Two German versions of the programme were created. The first version, made in 2005, was cancelled after just one episode was shown on Sat.1. The second version was launched on 29 August 2008, under the title Die Sonja & Dirk Show, and had better success. Created for RTL Television, it was hosted by Sonja Zietlow and Dirk Bach, both of whom were known for presenting the German version of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, and featured a similar format to the British original in terms of segments. The programme ran for 4 years before it was axed, following the death of Bach on 1 October 2012.

A Spanish version of the show, El supershow, was aired on Antena 3 in Summer 2004, presented by Carlos Sobera and Patricia Pérez. Starting on 21 July and lasting until late August, it was axed after one series despite getting good ratings.

A Flemish version of the show, named Alles Moet Weg ("Everything has to go") was aired on the Belgian commercial channel VTM for one season. Hosted by Koen Wauters, the show ran for one season of six episodes, starting on 29 February 2008. It featured several segments copied from the British version like "the Jiggy Bank" and "versus" (here named "Koen Versus", where Koen would compete against a different Flemish celebrity each week.) and "Beat The Boys". The sixth and last episode aired on 4 April 2008.

A Portuguese version named Sabadabadão was launched on 10 May 2014. Broadcast on SIC, and co-produced by FremantleMedia, it was hosted by Júlia Pinheiro and João Baião, and ran for only one series of twelve episodes before it was axed.