ITV confirm Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway WILL go ahead - but without a live audience
It's the first time in the show's history
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway looked to be in jeopardy at the weekend amid the Coronavirus, with many fans left wondering whether it would go ahead. Signing off at the end of last weekend's show, Dec told the audience that they would "hopefully" be back - causing a slight panic over the future of the show.
However, ITV have now confirmed that Saturday Night Takeaway WILL air this Saturday at 7pm - but it will be without a studio audience for the first time in the show's history since it began back in 2002.
The statement read, 'Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway will go ahead this weekend without a studio audience. Our priority is safeguarding the well-being of everyone involved.
'The show will be made with a reduced production crew and in accordance with the latest guidance from Public Health England. The team are looking forward to bringing our viewers a brilliant show on Saturday evening.'
Although Ant and Dec haven't yet tweeted about the show definitely returning at the weekend, they did tweet about last weekend's show, in turn referencing the Coronavirus, 'Thanks for all your lovely comments about tonight’s #SaturdayNightTakeaway, it was definitely live wasn’t it!? We hope it made you smile and forget about the outside world for a bit. Stay safe. D x.'
Scroll through to see which films are being pushed back:
No Time To Die
No Time To Die was supposed to be released on 10th April 2020, and was the first major film release to be pushed back due to the Coronavirus. Releasing a statement on Twitter, film bosses explained, 'MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, announced today that after careful consideration and thorough evaluation of the global theatrical marketplace, the release of NO TIME TO DIE will be postponed until November 2020.'
However in October, it was later revealed the film would be put back until April 2021. In January 2021, the film was confirmed to have a release date of October 2021, and was later released in cinemas in the UK on 30th September 2021.
A Quiet Place: Part II
Director John Krasinski confirmed on 12th March 2020 that the sequel to his critically acclaimed film would not be released on 19th March 2020 as planned. He wrote on his social media pages, 'To all our A Quiet Place fans, one of the things I'm most proud of is that people have said our movie is one you have to see all together. Well due to the ever-changing circumstances of what's going on in the world around us, now is clearly not the right time to do that.
'As insanely excited as we are for all of you to see this movie... I'm gonna wait to release the film til we CAN all see it together! So here's to our group movie date! See you soon! #AQuiet Place Part 2...Take 2. JK.'
The sequel was eventually released on 3rd June 2021.
F9
The ninth film in the Fast & Furious franchise was pushed back from its original release date of May 2020 to 2nd April 2021, and then 28th May 2021. The official release date was later 25th June 2021.
At the time, a statement from film bosses read, 'To our family of Fast fans everywhere, we feel all the love and the anticipation you have for the next chapter in our saga. That's why it's especially tough to let you know that we have to move the release date of the film. It's become clear that it won't be possible for all of our fans around the world to see the film this May.'
Black Widow
The Scarlett Johansson-led Marvel film was due to be released in May 2020, but Disney made the decision to put it back to 7th May 2021. It was then released on 9th July 2021 in cinemas and on Disney+ with a premium fee.
Antlers
Produced by Guillermo Del Toro, the horror film starring Keri Russell and Jesse Plemons was set to be released on 17th April, however had to be given a new release date of 29th October 2021.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Sony announced on 30th March that they had decided to push back the release of their Ghostbusters sequel starring Paul Rudd and Stranger Things' Finn Wolfhard from 10th July 2020 to 5th March 2021, and later moved it again to 11th November 2021. The film also featured original cast members Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver and Dan Aykroyd.
Morbius
Morbius, starring Jared Leto, is a film about a biochemist who becomes a vampire. It's a spin-off to Tom Hardy's Venom film and also has connections with Tom Holland's Spider-Man franchise. It was set to be released on 31st July 2020, but was pushed back to 19th March 2021, later being pushed again to 28th January 2022.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
Speaking of Venom... The sequel to the 2018 hit would have been released on 2nd October 2020, but didn't actually see the light of day until 24th September 2021.
The Batman
Robert Pattinson's iteration of Batman was released on 4th March 2022, having originally been scheduled for 25th June 2021.
The King's Man
A prequel to Kingsman and its sequel, The King's Man was originally scheduled for release on 18th September 2020 but instead saw its cinematic release on 22nd December 2021.
West Side Story
Steven Spielberg's remake of the classic musical was originally slated for 18th December 2020, but wasn't actually released in cinemas until 24th September 2021.
This comes after Peaky Blinders and Line of Duty were both forced to postpone their production of the upcoming series, with Strictly Come Dancing stars AJ Pritchard and Dianne Buswell being forced to postpone their dance tours too.