Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Desert Island Discs
Presented by Kirsty Young
Television presenter and one half of the duo Ant & Dec, known for hosting Britain's Got Talent, I'm a Celebrity... and Saturday Night Takeaway.
Eight records
Theme from Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. Castaway Ant explains: "watching Auf Wiedersehen Pet growing up was … the first show as a child that I watched and thought I could do that. … It gave us a kind of confidence … that we didn't have to do exactly the same as everybody else."
Wichita LinemanFavourite
Castaway Dec: "a song that I would hear growing up … my mum and dad were both Irish … we'd have mixtapes on the way back … it always gave me a warm fuzzy feeling whenever I heard it."
First band they ever saw together in concert. "We would have been sixteen … went down to Newcastle Mayfair, pretended we were eighteen to buy the tickets."
Castaway Dec: "the first record I ever bought … my eldest brother Eamon took me into town … one of the most coolest records ever heard for a first record."
Castaway Ant: "Madness … my first kind of band I got into … what I love was their sense of fun."
I Am Very Glad I'm Finally Going Home (Open Brackets Tra La La Close Brackets)
Played before every audition day on Britain's Got Talent.
Moment from I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here: "and there's a lyric … 'I was scared … tired and underprepared' … that's how we felt every day."
Castaway Ant: "There have been comparisons … which we don't agree with … to us they're peerless."
The keepsakes
No book or luxury recorded for this episode.
In conversation
Presenter asks
What do you think, Ant, is the basis of the success of your friendship?
I think that we trust each other, we respect each other, and we make each other laugh. I mean, he's still the funniest bloke I know.
Presenter asks
How did you get on negotiating your record choices?
We decided we're going to have two each and then we're going to have four joint ones. You know … we've been friends for a long time. And a lot of the music kind of reflects that, I think.
The recording
Timestamps play the recording from that turn
Presenter
Hello, I'm Kirsty Young. Thank you for downloading this podcast of Desert Island Discs from BBC Radio 4. For rights reasons the music choices are shorter than in the radio broadcast.
Presenter
For more information about the programme, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.
Presenter
My castaways this week are the T V duo Anton Deck to give them their full names Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, the kings of Saturday Night Primetime. Their careers and firm friendship spans twenty odd years, beginning as child actors on Biker Grove and currently hosting Britain's Got Talent, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and their eponymously named Saturday Night Takeaway.
Presenter
Their speciality is what are known in the business as shiny floor shows, programmes that involve big budgets, big audiences and, frequently, big egos. Yet their partnership, it seems, exists well beyond the four walls of a T V studio. As thirteen year olds, they bonded over a mutual appreciation of Newcastle United and Wham, pledging themselves to be best buddies for ever. These days they live just a few doors down from each other, and when Ant got married, Deck was best man. They say without doubt the best thing to come out of the last twenty years, the greatest thing we've ever achieved, our biggest success, has been our friendship, and nothing will ever change that. I'm wondering about the friendship then. What do you think, Ant, is the basis of the success of your friendship?
Speaker 4
Oh god, I think that we trust each other, we respect each other, and we make each other laugh. I mean, he he's still the funniest bloke I know.
Ant
He doesn't know many people.
Speaker 4
Uh
Speaker 4
But it's true, we laugh a lot, and and we still do now.
Presenter
Yes. You've come in here today
Speaker 4
You're looking very, very s
Presenter
Thank you. Said you're going to the bank later. I thought it was for me, but no, you've got a beautiful three-piece suit on. Do you share the same taste in things?
Speaker 4
Thank you.
Speaker 4
Yeah.
Speaker 4
Yeah, we we've got a driver who who picks us both up. We only live a few doors away from each other. He always gets decked first, then he comes for me. And when the door opens in the car, I've got to have a little glance just to see what he's wearing,'cause sometimes we do end up wearing exactly the same thing. Which we did, we went for Dylan, do I have to go you've gotta go and get changed. That's what we get quite
Ant
What's mitigating the audio?
Ant
A lot. It's good and it's quite good because I he picks me up first. I'm the one who has to go back in and get changed. So I always get to wear what I want, but yeah, we do have the same taste.
Speaker 4
Uh
Presenter
No, that works.
Presenter
Um Deck, you were asking just before we went uh live on the microphones here of when it was that we last did a duo on Desert Islanders. I have to say you were in a a long, noble and pretty hilarious tradition. You've had Morkham and Wise, we've also had Fanny and Johnny Craddock, who'll be delighted to know. Yeah, we had the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, that was back in nineteen eighty two. But the last couple that we had on were Fluccin and Law, you know, the creators of Switt and Image. That was way back in nineteen eighty seven. Um Deck, how did you get on negotiating your record choices? How did you
Ant
Does
Speaker 1
See?
Speaker 1
We'll be delighted.
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Ant
An image, yeah.
Speaker 1
Uh
Ant
We decided we're going to have two each and then we're going to have four joint ones. You know, we've known each other for so long, you know, we're w we we met when we were thirteen, we're both thirty eight now. So we've had a lot of shared experiences and we've been friends for a long time. And a lot of the music kind of reflects that, I think.
Presenter
Right. I noticed that in your choices you haven't picked the two thousand two World Cup song We're on the Ball. Was that ever considered?
Ant
Uh
Presenter
No.
Presenter
Right, and first of all then, let's go to uh the first choice of the morning. Why have you picked this?
Speaker 4
Do Alvida Sim Pet and the reason why I picked it is because watching Al Vida Sin growing up was it was the first show as a child that I watched and thought I could do that. It was about Geordie men working away from home, but obviously they were Geordie actors. So it gave us a kind of confidence I think growing up that we didn't have to do exactly the same as everybody else, the rest of your family and friends. You could try other things.
Speaker 1
Working on the site from morning till night, that's living alright, that's living alright. They're the pint with the boys, in a baffling noise, that's living alright.
Speaker 1
Slipping all right
Speaker 1
Working all day, for a bit of surplay, then blowing home on Saturday night.
Speaker 1
And you kiss the dames, but you don't ask their names. That's living alright now.
Speaker 1
Working in the sun
Presenter
That was Joe Fagan. He was accompanied by both of you there, rather than. That was uh the theme from Avida Saint Pet. There was that's living all right. So, Aunt, you were born nineteen seventy five. You lived in Fenham in Newcastle with
Ant
What's it the most of it, yeah?
Presenter
Your Mum Christine, your dad Raymond, and your sister Sarah, what are your very early memories of life in the home?
Speaker 4
Very happy memories actually growing up. We my mum and dad split when I was about eight. So I remember quite a few years before before my dad left. We lived right across the road from my my mum's mum and dad's, so from my grandparents. So that was really good and we would ru constantly run between houses and we'd stay there and yeah, it was lovely.
Presenter
And and so when your mum and dad split up then, did you were you the sort of man in the house? Did you get what responsibility?
Speaker 4
Did you get more responsibility? Yeah, I got a lot more responsibility. And and I think my mum had to take on more jobs, so she had like, you know, three, four jobs at one time. So when we when I'd finished school and come home and stuff, it would be a case of, you know, making dinner and and s helping my sister out and I'm very good at islanding.
Presenter
And so what sort of little kids were you? I mean, did you were you on your bike? Were you playing football? In the clothes? What were you doing?
Speaker 4
Yeah, or all of that, yeah. And we've talked about we we had two very different ways of getting into uh what we do. I was quite shy uh and it would take a lot to kind of get me out out of myself, you know what I if you see what I'm saying.
Presenter
Yeah. So you weren't one of those kids who was like, Do your turn now, man. Do the turn. Now we'll do that first.
Speaker 4
No, it wouldn't. That would embarrass me. It would take a lot of persuasion. You, on the other hand.
Ant
Steven V.
Speaker 4
Very quiet over here.
Ant
But
Presenter
Yeah.
Ant
Uh
Presenter
Yeah.
Ant
Uh
Presenter
Yeah.
Speaker 4
Yeah.
Presenter
Did you have a turn? When you were little, was there kinda come on deck, do your
Ant
Yeah.
Presenter
Yeah.
Ant
Was it? Where I could do a bit of Irish dancing or maybe a bit of body popping. I mean, there's a whole list of body popping.
Speaker 4
I'd love to know if that phrase has been used on Desert Island discs before.
Presenter
I don't I don't
Ant
So I told the
Presenter
Do you know, you're a very good dancer. I was watching all the Let's Get Ready to Rumble stuff. You can really dance. And I'm not saying you can't, but did you take dancing lessons when you were a little boy?
Ant
I did Irish dancing when I was a kid because my mum and dad were are Irish and it was one of those things that was kinda just a tradition in the family and also it was just it was something that my mum and dad could bundle me off to on a Saturday morning. You know, if I wasn't playing football I would be in Irish dancing. I I had a kilt and I went and did a few competitions and won a few medals and
Presenter
He remembered
Ant
The first medal you won, can you remember that moment of where was that? It was at the Tyneside Irish Club. Uh, unfortunately, it was only for third place. But
Presenter
Yeah, kind of like that.
Speaker 4
But then
Ant
Uh
Ant
I was on the podium, but then I thought, oh, I'd really like a first place one, so I'm going to try harder at this.
Presenter
Are you quite a competitive fellow?
Ant
Yeah, very.
Presenter
Are you competitive with each other?
Ant
Leave.
Ant
Yeah.
Ant
Yeah.
Presenter
Yeah, we are. What would bring out your competitors? I've read, of course, you'll have, you know, in interviews with you, people saying the only time they ever really fell out was when they were playing the board game Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? True Story. True story.
Ant
There we are.
Ant
Yeah, true story still rankles with me.
Presenter
Genuinely. Is there anything now, like if you play football together, or I don't know if you ski together, or golf or something?
Ant
Golf golf alpha is a thing that we're very competitive over.
Presenter
Okay, what do you hit off then? What's your handy at?
Ant
twenty two
Presenter
Aunt? Twenty, eighteen, when I'm playing well.
Ant
A T
Ant
Yeah, sometimes I can play off sixteen.
Ant
So that's that's nothing really.
Presenter
Yeah.
Presenter
Okay, let's have some music. We'll take take a deep breath. It's your turn, Deck. Tell me about this second choice.
Ant
This is a song that I would hear growing up. Like I said, my mum and dad were both Irish, and there was a lot of country music on in the house. And we used to travel back to Ireland every summer holidays and we'd have mixtapes on the way back. And this was just one song that really just stuck with me and it always gave me a warm fuzzy feeling whenever I heard it, and it still does today. So, yeah, it's Glen Campbell and Wichita Lina.
Speaker 1
Uh
Speaker 1
I am a lineman for the county
Speaker 1
And I drive the main road.
Speaker 1
Searching in the sun for another overlord
Speaker 1
I hear you singing in the wire
Speaker 1
I can hear you through the wine
Speaker 1
And the witch of tall lineman
Presenter
So that was Glen Campbell and Wichita alignment. Dec I'm wondering what the car was. You said that was played in the on the tape day.
Ant
It was first it was uh Datsun Cherry, I think it was. And um that was the days before, compulsory seat belts. You used to sit in the foot well every night. Sometimes I was in the foot well, I was only tiny, so I was in the foot well, I was on the back shelf, I was across the across my brothers and sisters' knees in the back.
Presenter
That's a good idea.
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Presenter
Big.
Ant
Big family. Big family.
Presenter
How many of a family?
Ant
There are seven of us, three brothers, three sisters, I have, and I'm the youngest of seven.
Presenter
Hence loving the applause, I guess.
Ant
I I suppose so, yeah, and having to kind of shout quite loudly get get noticed.
Presenter
What about you then, Aunt? Where how did it start for you? Because as by your own admission, you're a shy little boy.
Speaker 4
I I used to really enjoy doing drama at school and it was my drama teacher, uh Lynn Spencer, said, Look, you should do you should do more of this and she said, There's this show coming uh and they want normal kids, they don't want stage school kids, uh it's called Backergrove and I'd like you to go for an audition. So she saw something. Yeah, and really, really pushed me and and I needed a good kick up the backside, if I'm honest with you.
Speaker 1
Raj.
Presenter
And and Deck, your parents ran the s the social club.
Ant
I'm sorry.
Ant
Yeah, they were the manager and manageress of the Tyneside Irish Club and yeah, I'd I'd kind of see a lot of bands there. They weren't the bands that I was particularly into at the time, but a couple of my brothers were in a band as well and they used to practise there in the basement and they'd they played a couple of gigs but it never went anywhere. But there was always music around.
Presenter
Yeah.
Speaker 1
Well
Presenter
Was there an idea, given that it was Newcastle at the time that it was and that unemployment was very high, was there an idea that you know you you needed to buckle down in school? Was that important to your parents?
Speaker 4
No, not at all. No, I I never felt pressured to to stay in school or to study too hard. I think they were quite relaxed about that.
Presenter
Biker Grove was for teenagers. It was sort of really the first teenager soap, really, you know, made for people to reflect their own experience. It had pretty.
Speaker 4
Really, you don't mean
Presenter
Pretty tough storyline.
Ant
Yeah, and we had uh some of the kids got involved in car theft and the
Speaker 4
What
Ant
And one of one of our biggest ones that we were involved in was a blindness storyline where Anne's character um got blinded in a paintball accident.
Speaker 4
Mines
Ant
Do you then
Presenter
And think oh, acting actually
Ant
Maybe the sh
Presenter
There's a bit more.
Ant
More about it than I'm going to do.
Presenter
Yeah.
Ant
Where you kind of go, Well, it was fun because we used to get days off school and it was kind of messing about, and there was a pool table in the green room.
Presenter
There must have been tutors though, didn't
Ant
It was tutors, but it it still wasn't the same as being at school. It was somewhere else, it was different, it was a novelty. But there came a time where I think there was a switch and you kind of go, If I want to do this forever, if I want to do this as a career, I need to put some work into it and and and learn the craft. And that's when you kind of you start asking questions and you start talking to the director about why this has happened and what, you know.
Speaker 4
Omina
Ant
You know, it sounds a bit kind of actor-ish, but you kind of go, what is my motivation for this scene?
Speaker 4
But let's see. We've got a very kind of strong work ethic, the pair of us, and I think we got that from Bitter Grove. You know, from the very first days we knew that, you know, time is money and they wouldn't they wouldn't accept kids laughing and and sniggering and ruining takes because here we were, we were in the adult world and they were treating us like adults, so I think that's kind of stayed with us.
Presenter
Your next choice then. This is I think this is a joint choice.
Speaker 4
Yes, it is. This is by the Inspiral Carpets, and they were the first band we ever went to see together in concert. We.
Presenter
Uh
Ant
We would have been sixteen. And yeah, we went we went down to Newcastle Mayfair, pretended we were eighteen to buy the tickets. I don't know how we got away with that.
Speaker 4
Uh
Speaker 1
Duh.
Speaker 4
Uh
Speaker 1
I
Speaker 4
Yeah.
Ant
Uh but yeah, this is the Insparrow carpets and this is how it feels to be lonely.
Speaker 1
Husband don't know what he's done Kids don't know what's wrong with mom She can't say, they can't see
Speaker 1
Putting it down to another bad day Daddy don't know what he's done Kids don't know what's wrong with mom
Speaker 1
So this is how it feels to be lonely This is how it feels to be small This is how it feels when your word means nothing at all
Presenter
That was the inspiral carpets, and this is how it feels to be lonely. So there you were, Anton Deck. You were PJ and Duncan on screen. You were starting to get successful, and presumably people were starting to know locally exactly who you were, the famous guys off the telly. How was it when you had to go back into real school, then Deck?
Ant
It wasn't brilliant. No, because obviously the show was going out on TV and you get a certain amount of recognition, but also you get a certain amount of criticism as well and a bit of name-calling and stuff. And also, as well as some of the teachers weren't great with it, because you're missing so much school, what you're wasting your time doing that for? You should be here getting your academics right. But at that time, we both knew what we wanted to do, and it was in performance. Right, you did by.
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Speaker 4
Right, you should but
Presenter
By then and you
Speaker 4
You were set. Yeah, th we'd been bitten by the bug, definitely, yeah. And and I couldn't see myself doing anything else. And and at the time when we were in Byter Grove, it was quite a vibrant place to be in Newcastle in terms of T V work. Uh, you had Jimmy Nil doing a spender and stuff, you had a lot of the Catherine Cookson dramas going on, you know, so you kind of felt
Ant
Currently
Presenter
You know she
Speaker 4
You know, when I get written out of Bit of Girl eventually there'll be other stuff I can do.
Presenter
Right. And and when you did get written out of Biker Grove, how old are you then? Seventeen, just seventeen.
Ant
Just about to turn eighteen, yeah. Um in our final series of Biker Grove, the storyline was we formed a band and we made a record, then we get ripped off by a promoter and that was the end of the storyline and we leave the show, but the intention was then to spin off and release the record through a record company. Unfortunately during the negotiations between the T V show and the the record company it all broke down and it got called off and we were just written out of the show and that was going to be the end of it.
Speaker 4
Uh
Presenter
And what did you say to each other? When you walked out of that uh producer's office and they said, you know, we're not renewing your contract and we're writing you out the series. How did the conversation go between the two of you? Can you remember?
Ant
Very clearly because it was kind of our world was came crashing down around our ears, really, you know. And also we'd been told that the record deal wasn't happening anymore. So suddenly our whole future, which seemed it was like kind of mapped out,
Speaker 1
And so it's
Ant
Suddenly had ended. I think we were in kind of stunned silence, really, until we got to the bottom of the staircase and we heard the door burst open at the top of the staircase, and it was the executive producer of Biter Grove, Matthew Robinson. And he shouted down, I've just had Telstar Records on the phone. No, they won't sign you up. And we were like, We've heard this all before. We went, Look, I'll believe it when I say it. And sure enough, they signed us up, and PJ and Duncan, the pop stars, were born.
Speaker 1
Hmm.
Presenter
No, they won't sign you up.
Presenter
Yeah, yeah.
Presenter
The rest is musical history. Well, it's a scandal of it. Before we go to the next piece of music, Deck, I have read repeatedly that, you know, Deck was on a path to train for the priesthood.
Ant
Well I don't know if it is.
Ant
Exactly.
Presenter
Is any is that even remotely true?
Ant
There's the tiniest seed of truth in it. I've got an elder brother who's a priest. He's now the Dean of the Cathedral in St. Mary's in Newcastle. Right. And I went to an old boys' Catholic school, and it's one of the things there that, you know, when you study an RE, they say, you know, we should all think, are any of us called to the priesthood? And I thought about it. And then I got the bus home and I saw all the girls from the local convent school, Sacred Heart, passing by. I thought, it's not for me.
Presenter
Right.
Presenter
Let's have some music then. We're on your fourth choice of the morning deck. This is yours, I think. Tell me about this. This is the first record I.
Ant
Ever bought.
Ant
And my eldest brother Eamon took me into town, and I'd bought it because I'd heard it playing.
Ant
This is much to Ant's annoyance.
Speaker 4
This one, what we're gonna play, and I won't spoil it, but it's one of the most coolest records ever heard for a first record.
Ant
It's an amazing song. Every time I hear it, I get scoosbums again. It's such an amazing, sounding song. It's Golden Brown by The Stranglers.
Speaker 1
Sounds fun.
Speaker 1
Golden brown, texture like sun Lays me down with my mind she runs Throughout the night, no need to fight Never a frown with golden brown
Speaker 1
Every time, just like the last, on her ship, tied to the mast, Two distant lands, takes both my hands, Never a frown with golden brown.
Presenter
That was the Stranglers and Golden Brown, as you say, and annoyingly, that was Deck's first ever disc that he bought. Super cool. We should remind people then that, of course, there has been this long-running successful television career. In 1995, you won, I think it was two BAFTAs for the Anton Deck show. That was on CBBC. Then you decided to move to ITV. Why did you decide to move? Was it just great wads of cash being waived?
Speaker 1
Um
Ant
The reason we moved to ITV basically was we we'd kind of done everything we w we wanted to do on on the BBC at that time and everything we were allowed to do really. And we wanted to open up a bit and
Presenter
And were you doing your own writing of those sketches or were you working with writers or writing?
Ant
We were working with writers in rehearsal rooms and trying stuff out, and that was great fun. I mean, gags are difficult things to deliver. How did you learn the gag?
Speaker 4
Uh
Ant
Yeah.
Speaker 4
I'll skip. I think we learnt them just from watching television growing up. I think I've been massive fans of Malta Manwise. You know, the late seventies, eighties w was the pinnacle really for entertainment on television, I think.
Ant
Did you
Ant
As kids we watched a lot of double-axis cannon and ball vital roll were like something we'd never seen before, and they obviously influenced us.
Speaker 4
Right.
Speaker 4
So and we were very conscious as well not to have uh uh and we are still now not to have a straight man and a and a funny man.
Presenter
I was just about to ask you that. When I watch you on television, there's not one of you that's the dalt or the fool. You know, ye it is equal, and that and that is unusual in a comic.
Ant
Yeah.
Ant
We could do with a funny man. Two straight men is not really working.
Presenter
Two straight men's not really working
Ant
But no, yeah, we we kind of swap those roles around a little bit. You know, sometimes I'm the slightly more conceited one and and sometimes ant's more dim than me, but sometimes we'll come up with an idea for a a sketch or or a script and we'll go, That doesn't really feel like me, it feels more like an ant line that. And I think that's part of our success has been is that neither of us has a real ego about who gets the gag.
Speaker 4
Uh
Speaker 1
Uh
Speaker 4
But
Speaker 1
I'm
Speaker 1
I just realized that.
Speaker 1
Uh
Speaker 4
So like
Speaker 4
Yeah.
Ant
Uh
Speaker 4
Yeah, you know, as long as they're laughing, I don't we don't mind.
Presenter
Has it ever happened to you on on live T V that you've sort of delivered the line that is the line and then the other ones kind of bested it and you've thought you shouldn't have done that?
Presenter
No, no, no.
Ant
No
Ant
When we when we're out in Australia, that is one thing we try and do all the time, is make each other laugh. You know, if we're coming off a V T of a particularly grizzly Bush Tucker trial or something, and Ant is the back ref to the V T, I'll go, Just hang on, I've got something out of the back of this and we'll wait till we go live and we'll I'll try and do it, and I'll just try and cope with him.
Speaker 4
Yeah, and a lot of the kind of compliments we get are about our performance on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of here because it it's more knockabout and it's more more kind of bantery between us, and people like that.
Ant
The amount of people we get come to up to us and go, Eyo, just let me and my best mate and that's I think that's what they see. They see a real friendship and they see their own reflected back at them, I think.
Presenter
Yeah.
Presenter
More questions, but they will come after this. Tell me about this one. We're on your fifth.
Speaker 4
Yeah. This is my choice. It's a song by Madness, who were my first kind of band I got into. And what I love was their sense of fun. Never took themselves too seriously. Never, never did. And this one, Baggy Trousers, is a song that when we were doing Saturday Night Takeway a few years ago, and Madness came on, and I sang this with them. It's amazing.
Speaker 1
Naughty boys in nasty schools and masters breaking all the rules Having fun and playing pools, smashing up the woodwork tools All the critters in the pub fasting and the ready rub Trying not to think of when the lunchtime bell will ring again Oh what fun we had, right did it really turn out bad All of the
Speaker 1
What has it been the fake of all thought we had but at the time it seems a bad try investment ways to make a li
Speaker 1
The headmaster's had enough today, but all the kids have gone away
Presenter
That was madness and baggy trousers. That was your choice. We're coming up with a joint choice next. But before that, I want to ask you about Britain's Got Talent, a hugely popular show. There is considerable and consistent criticism that in the end, yes, people choose to come on these shows, we know that, and yes, people are vetted, but that you are playing with the stuff of people's dreams and, you know, it's a pretty sticky, dangerous, nasty place to be in there doing that. The most famous, of course, example of this is Susan Boyle. Were there times when you genuinely thought, I'm not sure if this woman at this point is robust enough to cope with this amount of attention? Absolutely.
Speaker 1
Boil.
Speaker 4
Yes, we worried about her a lot. I mean, you know, and and the duty of care that they have on Britain's got talent for the contestants is is very high. There's somebody constantly there for them. But she found it hard, just being in London, being away from Scotland and her cat, you know, so on that one level, you're not even putting into the mix global fame and YouTube hits and all that kind of stuff. So she did find it tough. And do you know what? Most people would.
Ant
This show took a lot of criticism uh over Susan, and I think you have to step back from the whole thing and just say, you know, what was it that Susan found hard? Was it the fact she sang three times on Britain's Got Talent? Or was it the press camped on her doorstep? I think they have to take some responsibility.
Presenter
So your point was the channel we're doing there better. Yeah. I want to talk about two thousand seven was, I think, quite a difficult year for you. It was to do with Game Show Marathon and Saturday Night Takeaway. There was a controversy over people watching phoning in and then phone lines being closed but money still being made. ITV was fined several million pounds by Ofcom as a result of the way that the production was being handled in that respect.
Ant
Yeah.
Speaker 1
In the
Presenter
Very difficult for you because your relationship as a duo is very much on the side of the viewer.
Speaker 4
Yeah. You're right. No, you're absolutely right. And I think our audience trusts us. And with that case, we were really worried that that trust had gone. And it it did affect us. Yeah, you're right to say it was you know, probably the worst part of our career because I think it definitely was.
Ant
Without doubt, definitely worst moment or worst point, totally. We couldn't quite comprehend how it was allowed to happen and Uh
Speaker 4
And there was w we were credited as as executive producers.
Presenter
Now that's where I was going next, because it it was a crucial point in your career when you were saying we are not just a couple of talking haircuts who crack a few gags, we are people who come up with ideas, people in charge of your own life, and there suddenly it all unravels and this happens.
Speaker 4
Just a
Speaker 4
And there suddenly it all
Speaker 4
Yeah, this happens. And and a lot of people said, you know, you you are executive producers, you should have known this was going on. But we didn't. Producing the show, you know, we left that to the producers, the other executive producers, and creatively coming up with things, that's what we did from the outset. We thought that credit was justified in that sense.
Presenter
So therefore, did you think at any point it was all about to crumble?
Ant
Yeah.
Presenter
Yeah.
Ant
Absolutely. Oh, God, I. Yeah, we thought it was probably that was it, to be honest with you, because.
Ant
I think the viewers would have been justified in thinking their trust had been breached, and if that had been the end, I don't think we could have had many complaints.
Speaker 4
I what kind of really helped us was it was the National Television Awards and we were up for a couple of awards and we just kind of privately both thought, well, obviously we're not going to win them this year, you know, that that that's it, you know. But we did and we got all three and we I remember we both kind of got very emotional about it because it meant it means so much and not the fact that it's an award, but it what meant so much.
Presenter
Well, the difference with those awards, of course, is they are voted for by the people who are sitting down with remote control and deciding whether they like you or not.
Speaker 4
Yeah.
Ant
Yeah.
Ant
It was quite an emotional night because then there's the realization then that maybe all is not lost. Yeah. And we started about then going about our work and trying to rebuild that trust with the viewer and and hope that we could get back to where we were.
Presenter
Let's have some music. We're on your sixth. And it's a pretty special track.
Ant
And it's a pretty special track.
Speaker 4
Uh
Ant
Desert Island.
Speaker 4
You need cheering up. We play this before every audition day on Britain's Got Talent.
Ant
It's by a guy called Edward Keel and it's called Best Title Ever. I am very glad I'm finally going home. Open brackets, trolla la close brackets.
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Presenter
That was Edward Heale, and I am very glad I'm finally going home, open brackets, tra la la.
Ant
And if you're not
Presenter
Not smiling out.
Ant
Yeah.
Presenter
Uh
Ant
Yeah, there's something wrong with you.
Presenter
Yeah.
Presenter
So you both have these lives where professionally you're together all the time, and now today you live very close by to each other.
Ant
Yeah, towards the end of our music career we shared uh a couple of flats in Fulham.
Presenter
What are you laughing at?
Ant
Uh
Speaker 4
I'm laughing because the first laugh was just, I mean, it was hideous. It was like men behaving badly. Thankfully, we got better since.
Ant
I definitely
Ant
And then we decided, yeah, to move to West London. We bought houses a couple of doors away from each other.
Presenter
So, Aunt, you moved elsewhere. Obviously, it wasn't to get away from your best friend. That's what he says. That's what he says.
Ant
That's what he says.
Speaker 4
Yes, but then you bought a house with your new wife. Yeah, I just got married and we bought a new house, a marital home. And yes, something remarkable happened. He came to me and said, Listen, I've found a new house I'd like to move to. I said, Well, that's fantastic. The only problem is it's three doors away from your new home. I said, Right. Well, that's brilliant. And I said, That's even better. He went, Yeah, but.
Presenter
And
Speaker 4
How do we tell your wife? So we both sheepishly kind of walked in and said, Lisa, we we'd like to speak to you and then she goes, Yes, and she knew something was up'cause we never do that. And we both kind of sat down and said, Hey, and uh I said, Well, the thing is,
Speaker 4
Dex got something to tell you.
Speaker 4
I left it up to him.
Ant
So I said, um, I've found a new house, um, but the only problem is it's three doors away. She went, Oh, that's what this is about and I said, But I you know, if you have a problem with that, I won't buy it and um she said, No, we'd love to have you close by and you've always been close by, so um go ahead.
Presenter
When you decided to get married, Aunt, was it was there a moment when you thought, well, things'll change because of this? Inevitably, now my partnership is elsewhere.
Speaker 4
Um I never really affected
Speaker 4
My relationship was echoed, and I knew it wouldn't.
Presenter
Lisa's never said to you look, just tonight, can you not come round?
Speaker 4
No, in fact, quite the opposite. Um it gets to a point now where we're in the car together, coming back from work and his phone will ring. He just goes, Yep, okay. Oh, lovely. Oh, oh, that's nice. We're having chops tonight.
Speaker 4
And she's cooking dinner for him. So yeah, so
Presenter
So yeah, it's just true.
Presenter
It is true. That has happened on more than one occasion. So the we always think of the phrase that there are three people in this marriage as a negative thing, but in your case it seems to work.
Ant
Oh it's perfect.
Presenter
Yeah.
Ant
Uh
Presenter
I'm fine.
Ant
Very happy.
Presenter
Yeah.
Ant
Yeah.
Presenter
There are places that even desert island discs won't go, and I think we've just reached it. Let's have some more music then. We're on your seventh of the morning. Tell us about this. Again, it's a joint choice. Yeah, it is a joint.
Ant
And I think
Ant
It is a joint one, and this one relates to our time in Australia. It's a song that we first listened to around the time of the first ever series of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, where none of us really knew what we were doing. We were making it up as we went along, and we were listening to this song being driven into the set one morning.
Speaker 4
And we're both kinda half asleep when we dawsy.
Ant
And until a certain lyric came on. It's by Coldplay and there's a lyric in the middle that says, I was scared, I was scared, tired and underprepared, and that's how we felt every day.
Speaker 4
We both looked at each other. Yeah, that's how we're going to be able to do it.
Ant
This is the contract of this celebration.
Speaker 1
I was scared, I was scared.
Speaker 1
Tired of the freak
Speaker 1
But I'll wait for it
Speaker 1
Let's you go, let's you go.
Speaker 1
Leave me down here on my own And I'll wait for
Speaker 1
How long must you wait alone?
Speaker 1
Uh
Presenter
That was cold play and in my place. So, Anton Deck, you've enjoyed, of course, huge success. All the programmes you do get figures in the millions, sometimes the tens of millions. And you must sometimes think often, maybe, what's next?
Speaker 4
Still on our list is to do a sitcom. And we've said this for a number of years now, and we've just been very busy with doing the entertainment stuff. And we're talking to different people and we have been over the years and hopefully something will happen.
Ant
And like you say, a lot of what we do is live and in the moment, and we want to kinda do something that we can leave and people can come back to maybe. And but it's it's it's difficult, it's very hard.
Speaker 4
But we won't shy away from that because it's risky. Creatively, it's what we want to do, so we will definitely do it at some stage.
Presenter
When there is huge success in a family, and it can be sporting success or success in music or show business, um one of the interesting things that it does is it throws everybody else in the family's life into relief.
Presenter
You know, if you're from a certain sort of very normal background, that can be quite an awkward thing. Is it anything you've encountered? Is it something that you feel familiar with?
Speaker 4
They
Speaker 4
Yeah, I and do you know what I think of this as well? There's a there's a kind of not a guilt, but being working class and having a working class background, you can't be flashy. And if you know, if you go home in a big, big car and y y they just won't have it, they won't have that. Only this year have we bought kind of really nice cars because for years we've just we've kind of stopped ourselves, haven't we? Really? And I we've never spoke about it and it and but it's obviously a conscious thing that we've thought, no, you can't go back and rub people's noses in it.
Ant
Yeah.
Ant
I think part of it as well is that when you do go back, you kind of feel like you want to go back to those memories that you have and that warm feeling and that warm place that you have. Home is always home, and whenever you go back there, you want to go back and just fit in and and be part of home. And thankfully, I think we've been doing this for so long that the novelty has kind of worn off with our friends and close families, and now it's just it's just what we do.
Speaker 1
Yeah, yes.
Speaker 4
Yeah.
Presenter
And is it your mum that works in Marks and Sparks?
Ant
Uh
Speaker 4
Yeah, and I've said to her, you know, I've said to her, Look, uh, you know, you don't have to work anymore, you know, I can I can help you But she loves it. She loves it. She works in security and she's one of the noisiest women I know, does the perfect job.
Presenter
Right, let's have some music then. I'm afraid it's your last one. Oh, is it? Oh, that's a final choice. Already, before we hear your last track.
Speaker 4
Was it a final choice?
Presenter
Do you know I'm about to cast you away on separate islands? Oh, I didn't know that. Yes, you don't get to be together on the same island.
Ant
Oh I don't know.
Ant
Do we know?
Presenter
But
Ant
Nope.
Ant
Can Anne not be my luxury item?
Presenter
No, he cannot.
Ant
Oh, that's that's really throwing the cat amongst the pigeons.
Presenter
Can you imagine that?
Ant
No, I can't.
Ant
That's that's oh, that's made me a bit sad. Aunt looks quite happy, doesn't it?
Presenter
Uh
Speaker 1
Uh
Presenter
Yeah.
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Ant
Only because I can't cook, I don't know what I'm gonna do with it.
Presenter
And what would you I mean you never contemplated being a part as a comedy duo, but life without deck.
Speaker 4
Oh god, I'd love him the bits. You know, there's there's a great love between the pair of us and I was I would really miss him.
Speaker 4
If I was cast away on an island, are you sure that's the rules? I'm absolutely positive. I'm in charge, and that's the rules.
Presenter
I'm absolutely positive I'm in charge and that's the rules. There's no I'm not referring it to any
Ant
Do you want to go?
Ant
They want
Presenter
Yeah.
Ant
I think I think um we've always said that, you know, that the kind of the secret of our success has always been that our career has been built on a friendship, not a friendship built on a career. And our greatest achievement is is our friendship and still being friends twenty five years on.
Presenter
I bet.
Presenter
Yeah.
Presenter
Tell me about the last disc then. What are we going to hear, Ant?
Speaker 4
The last track is Bring Me Sunshine by Mokman Wise. And there have been comparisons between us two and them two, which which we don't agree with. You know, to us they they're peerless. And we're we're just massive fans.
Speaker 1
Bring me sunshine.
Speaker 1
Ain't yo smile.
Speaker 1
Bring me laughter.
Speaker 1
All the while.
Speaker 1
In this world where we live, there should be more happiness, so much joy you can give To each brand new bright tomorrow, make me happy.
Speaker 1
Through the years.
Speaker 1
Never bring me
Speaker 1
Any tears.
Presenter
Yeah.
Presenter
That was Morgan Wise and Bring Me Sunshine. So we come to the point. I want to call you boys. I can't really call you boys. You're 38.
Ant
Everybody else does. But you know what I mean.
Presenter
But you know what I mean. Um where I'm going to give you the books. You each get separate uh piles of books. You get the complete works of Shakespeare and the Bible, and you get to take one other book each. What will your book be, Deck?
Ant
See
Ant
Great.
Presenter
It was booked
Ant
That I didn't want it to end and it's High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. I just loved it. That's your book then, and what about you, Anne?
Speaker 4
My book, Anything by William Boyd, who's my favorite author, but especially Any Human Heart.
Ant
Uh
Speaker 4
Do you want the collected works? Can I have the collected works? Oh, brilliant. I'll have all of his stuff.
Presenter
Bye-bye. Yeah.
Ant
But
Presenter
Uh
Ant
Yeah.
Ant
Possibly. Yeah, it's looking that way.
Presenter
Yeah, it's looking that way. And you're allowed a luxury each, something to make life alone on your desert island a little more bearable.
Speaker 4
We have this on Amazon to get me on view. They're allowed luxury items. You pitched that from us, then we licked that from Desert Island something. The most practical thing is like a blow-up chair.
Presenter
You pinched that from us then.
Speaker 4
Yeah.
Presenter
So probably that. We don't technically allow practical things, but I think that is useless enough. There is the chance it'll be sort of pinched by a crab and deflated.
Ant
Yeah, okay, so you can have a blow-up chair. Thanks. Dick. I was going to go for the most common thing that is brought into the jungle as a luxury item. Tweezers. I don't understand why. There must be something in it. Tweezers.
Presenter
Okay, you may have some tweezers then. And I always say to my castaways if you had to save one disk from the waves, which one would it be?
Speaker 4
Bring me sunshine. Right. Definitely.
Presenter
Right.
Presenter
That
Ant
The
Speaker 4
Glen Campbell, Wichita Lineman.
Ant
Yeah.
Presenter
Anton Deck, thank you very much for letting me hear your desert island discs. Pleasure. Thank you.
Speaker 4
Thank you. Thank you.
Presenter
You've been listening to a download from the BBC.
Presenter
You'll find more information on the Radio4 website bbc.co.uk slash Radio4.
Presenter asks
What are your very early memories of life in the home [in Fenham, Newcastle]?
Very happy memories actually growing up. We my mum and dad split when I was about eight. So I remember quite a few years before before my dad left. … It was lovely.
Presenter asks
When your mum and dad split up, did you become the man in the house? Did you get more responsibility?
Yeah, I got a lot more responsibility. And I think my mum had to take on more jobs, so she had like three, four jobs at one time. So when I'd finished school and come home … it would be a case of making dinner and helping my sister out.
Presenter asks
What did you say to each other when you walked out of that producer's office after being written out of Byker Grove?
I think we were in kind of stunned silence, really, until we got to the bottom of the staircase and we heard the door burst open … it was the executive producer … and he shouted down, 'I've just had Telstar Records on the phone. No, they won't sign you up.' … And sure enough, they signed us up.
Presenter asks
There's considerable criticism that with Britain's Got Talent you are playing with the stuff of people's dreams. Were there times when you genuinely thought, I'm not sure if this person is robust enough to cope with this amount of attention?
Yes, we worried about her a lot. … The duty of care that they have on Britain's Got Talent for the contestants is very high. … But she found it hard … being away from Scotland and her cat. … Most people would [find it tough].