Finally,after months of planning,it was time for Pop Idol to go on air and Ant and Dec were beside themselves with excitement.

This was the big time,this was proper Saturday night primetime television,this was their dream,this was what they had always wanted,what they had always craved and now it was here.'Friends like these' had been amazing and they had loved every minute of it,but there was no way they could have presented two Saturday evening shows,so they handed the reins of that show over to the capable hands of footballer Ian Wright.

Pop Idol absolutely was the success it was expected to be and Ant and Dec loved presenting it,as well as meeting the contestants and bantering with the judges,they couldn't believe they were getting paid for having so much fun.

One of the things Ant and Dec loved the most about the whole show was when they got to dress up as the judges and take the mickey out of them mercilessly.This guy Simon Cowell especially seemed like easy fodder,he obviously loved himself a little bit too much,so Ant and Dec decided it would be their job to bring him down a peg or two,in a good natured,fun way of course.

Dec had also found it especially hard to contain his laughter at some of the truly awful singers he and Ant had heard when they pressed their ears to the door where the auditions were being held.

It came down to them to comfort the disillusioned wannabes as they exited the audition room after being told a few home truths about their singing skills,or lack of them to be more specific,by the very blunt judges.

"Shh Declan,stop giggling" Ant ordered as yet another terrible singer made the walk of shame towards them to seek out their comfort.

"Ah,don't worry" Ant smiled sympathetically to the disappointed boy "your time will come"

"No,it won't" Dec grinned,as the contestant walked away "not with a voice like that"

"Alright Decs" Ant laughed "enjoying this are ya?"

"Loving it" Dec replied grinning "but some of these singers,and I use the word 'singers' in the loosest sense of the word,really are bloody awful,why are they even here?who told them they could sing when they obviously can't?"

"Ah well" Ant nodded "don't be too harsh on them eh Decs,they're just giving it a go,no harm done"

"Except to my ears" Dec frowned.

"At least some of them are good though" Ant pointed out "like that kid Will"

"Oh yeah" Dec agreed "I liked him,good voice and I thought he was a really nice guy"

"Yeah,he was" Ant smiled "I hope he does well in this competition"

"I'm sure he will" Dec replied "And Gareth,he's a brave kid"

"Yeah he is" Ant agreed "it must take some guts to go on live television when you've got a stammer,I hope he can overcome it"

"Yeah,me too" Dec nodded "I'm sure he will,hopefully this will help,it must be terrifying for him though"

"Well" Ant smiled "we're here to support him aren't we?both of them and anyone else who needs it,that's our job now,not just to present the show,but to be a shoulder to cry on or anything else the contestants need"

"Yeah,who knew?" Dec grinned "that we can now add agony uncles to our repertoire"

"Yep" Ant laughed "jack of all trades we are"

Indeed the young men,Will and Gareth who had become such firm favourites with the public and the crew of Pop Idol did go far,in fact they were the last two in the competition once it proceeded to the live shows and they soon found themselves together in the final.

"So who do you think is gonna win?" Ant asked Dec as they sat nervously in their dressing room the day of the live show.

"Could be either of them couldn't it?" Dec mused "they both deserve it,but Gareth has a story and you know how the British public love a story"

"Yeah" Ant nodded "he's the favourite apparently,but I'd be so happy for either of them to win"

"Yeah,me too" Dec agreed "and being runner up isn't always such a bad thing anyway"

"Yeah,that's true" Ant smiled.

And so the time came for the show to be broadcast live where Ant excitedly announced Will as the winner,much to the bookies surprise.

After the last episode of the successful series came to a close,there was the small matter of the after show party to attend.

A great time was had by all and Will and Gareth lapped up all the congratulations and good wishes,everyone knew they'd both do well out of this,no matter who had won,it had been such a new and unique experience for everyone involved in the show,it had such a positive vibe about it,that they all knew it would keep on getting better every year.

After that the offers of work came flooding in,there were so many that Ant and Dec didn't have time for them all,so they had to just pick and choose the ones that appealed to them the most.

One which had especially caught their attention the following summer after their transition to primetime television,was the 2002 world cup theme which they had been asked to perform.

How could they say no to that?why would they even want to?they were huge football fans as everyone knew and they could never get enough of their beloved Newcastle United.

So to actually have a chance to represent their country in the world cup,to perform the song that all the football fans would be singing along to in the stands,a song that might just be as big as the Three Lions anthem from the European championships of 1996,how amazing would that be?it was just too much of an incredible opportunity to miss.

They did have some very short lived reservations about resurrecting their pop careers though,but they soon forgot about them,they might not get another chance like this,so there was no way they were going to let that little matter hold them back.

So they recorded the song 'We're on the ball' They weren't sure it was as strong a song as they would have liked,but it was catchy enough so they got on with it anyway and just hoped for the best.They were pretty sure any fans of Ant or Dec or football would like it,just because of what it represented.

The day to film the accompanying video soon followed and Ant and Dec had so much fun being made up as the England manager Sven Goran Eriksson and his assistant Tord Grip.

"You look like ya Dad man" Ant laughed as he observed Decs fake grey hair.

"Yeah,I do don't I?" Dec agreed "still there's worse people to resemble"

Once the world cup tournament was underway and the song made it's way up to the number three position in the charts,Ant and Dec constantly had "WE'RE ON THE BALL" shouted at them in the streets,they didn't mind though,it was just a bit of fun and Ant especially preferred it to "he can't see man" which he was still subjected to on occasions,many years after that infamous Byker Grove scene.

As was typical for the English football team,it wasn't long before they were knocked out of the tournament.The boys drowned their sorrows in a few pints of beer,before picking themselves up,dusting themselves off and getting on with things the way they always did.

They also had other things in the pipeline,Ant and Dec had come up with an idea for a Saturday night programme themselves which they were pretty confident would be popular amongst both young and old viewers.

They had already named it Saturday Night Takeaway and thankfully the bosses at ITV loved the idea too,it had been a long time since there had been anything like that on telly on Saturday nights,good old fashioned family fun,with competitions,guests,challenges and just a lot of silliness,it was perhaps a more grown up version of SMTV,but not that much more grown up.

The show was given the go ahead and before they knew it,Ant and Dec were in their dressing rooms at the ITV studios,ready to entertain the nation.

The show went off without a hitch and soon the boys were making a toast with a glass of champagne each to the cast and crew and the shows success.

The audience in the studio and at home loved it and the programme was to receive raving reviews in the days to come.

"How was that?" Ant smiled happily as he and Dec sat in the back of the car taking them home from the first show.

"It was brilliant wasn't it?" Dec beamed "I loved every minute of it,I was so nervous though"

"Yeah,me too" Ant agreed "it went even better than I imagined though"

"Yeah,it did" Dec nodded,they were both so happy that their idea had been such a success "we've got to start thinking up new ideas for next week"

"Yeah,we have" Ant sighed "this is gonna be fun,but bloody hard work"

"Yeah" Dec smiled "but we've never been scared of hard work have we?"

"No we haven't" Ant replied "bring it on"

"Yeah" Dec agreed as his mobile phone started ringing in his jacket pocket.

"Hiya,yep,lovely,see you soon then" Dec smiled down the phone line.

"Who was that?" Ant enquired.

"Your girlfriend" Dec grinned.

"What?" Ant asked surprised "why is my girlfriend calling you?"

"To invite me round for dinner" Dec smiled "we're having lamb you know?a nice bit of grub to celebrate the success of the show"

"That's nice for you" Ant laughed "am I invited to this dinner then?or is just the two of you?"

"Might let ya come if you play your cards right" Dec joked.

Once the new series of Saturday Night Takeaway was barely underway,ITV had already come up with another programme idea for Ant and Dec,the television company had also offered them a three year contract which they had happily signed,ITV certainly had some grand plans for them.

"What?" Ant and Dec said in unison as they sat in the boardroom with their manager Paul and other members of the company,listening to the latest idea being run by them.

"You heard" Paul laughed "I think it's a great idea,it could really work"

"So let me get this straight" Ant frowned "you want to take a group of celebrities and dump them in the Australian jungle and leave them there to fend for themselves?"

"To put it bluntly,yeah,that just about sums it up" Paul grinned.

"Will never work" Dec insisted "which celebrities in their right minds are going to agree to that?"

"You'll be surprised young Declan" one of the board members Doug smiled.

"I don't get it" Ant frowned "why would anyone want to do that?let alone celebrities,having to live in a jungle with people you don't know would be hard enough,but these...er,these trial things..."

"Bushtucker trials" Doug cut in.

"Yeah" Ant nodded "bushtucker trials,who's gonna agree to something like that?it sounds like pure madness"

"You'll be surprised what some celebrities will do to revive their careers Anthony" Paul smiled "and that's why it will make great entertainment"

"I can't see anyone agreeing to that" Dec frowned.

"Oh,we've already got some who are interested" Doug smiled.

"Who?" Dec asked curiously.

"Well,some pretty well known names actually" Doug announced "won't be the Queen or anything though,don't think she needs the work"

Dec giggled at the thought of Her Majesty slumming it out in Australia.

"Anyway boys" Doug smiled "this idea is going ahead with or without you because we have great faith in it,but obviously we hope you will be up for it too?so what do you think?are you in?"

Ant and Dec turned to each other and smiled,without even needing to say a word,they looked back towards Doug with a glint in both of their eyes and replied in perfect unison...

"We'll do it!"