Hat-trick of awards for Ant and Dec 17/10/02
The Geordie duo Ant and Dec have picked up three awards at the National Television Awards in London. They landed the Top Entertainer Prize for the second year running and their show Pop Idol was named Most Popular Entertainment Programme.

Ant and Dec were stunned to find they had also won the Special Recognition Award, following in the footsteps of stars such as Des O’Connor, John Thaw and David Jason.

Ant said, "That’s possibly the biggest surprise I’ve had in my life. I think everybody sat in the Albert Hall is as surprised as us. It is a fantastic honour. It won’t sink in until next week some time."

Dec added: "We really are speechless - we have no speech."

Ant and Dec set to light up Newcastle - October 2002
Geordie superstars Ant and Dec will exchange the heat of their last hit series "I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here" for the chill of a pre Christmas Newcastle when they switch on their home town’s Christmas lights on Thursday November 21.

The big switch on will take place at the Monument, giving plenty of people the opportunity to come along and join in the festive fun. The day’s entertainment will begin in the middle of the day and a full programme of acts will be released shortly.


Maureen Dixon, Regional PR Manager for Orange, agreed, saying, "We are delighted to support the lights the City’s lights this year. The switch on event promises to be better than ever before and it is an added boost that Ant and Dec are coming back to their home town to switch on the lights."

Toon Idols - 03/09/02
Ant and Dec have signed up to be the voices for CITVs new pre-school animation Engie Benjy. The two will star as best friends, with Dec as the voice behind Engie Bengy, and "engine doctor", and ant will play his canine pal Jollop. The series is set in a world where "buses sleepwalk and planes get hiccups". Courtesy of Heat Magazine

Ant and Dec have gone back to their pop roots by releasing their official England World Cup football song, ’We’re on the Ball’. The song, which is a reworking of an old Arsenal anthem, is doing well so far and looks like it may knock their old Pop Idol friend, Will Young, off the Number 1 spot. It’s a bit repetative, ’we’re on the ball, we’re on the ball, etc etc’ but Ant and Dec are so popular and the video is funny (Dec as Sven is priceless) that it could yet go down in World Cup anthem history. The song faces compeition from the likes of Fat Les (aka Keith Allen) who once did that ’Vindaloo’ anthem.

BIOGRAPHY (s)!
Declan Joseph Oliver Donnelly and Anthony David McPartlin were born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1975. They first made their names as PJ and Duncan on the hit children’s show Byker Grove and even made it into the charts with such classics as ’Lets Get Ready To Rumble.’ Their first album ’Psyche’ went platinum, selling over 400,000 copies in the UK alone.

Despite their success (they released three albums in total) they realised they just didn’t cut the mustard as pop idols, and embarked on a hugely succesful television career. It proved a smart move by the boys, who clearly wanted something a little more long term than pop.

Not ones to shy away from making themselves look silly, they often incorporate embarassing footage of themselves as pop stars into their comedy act. They had their own show ’The Ant and Dec show’ which was a success, but they first really conquered the nation’s hearts as presenters on SM:TV - the Saturday morning children’s show.