Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway kick starts next month on ITV. Image © ITV Plc

TV’s Superheroes are Back!  Ant & Dec unleash their super powers this weekend on ITV with their brand new on air promo for their new series, Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, which airs live next month on ITV.

The promotion is the latest superhero silliness on British TV which in the past has included the world-famous appearance of Only Fools and Horses Del and Rodney (David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst) as Batman and Robin; Michael Palin as Bicycle Repair Man in Monty Python’s Flying Circus; Ardahl O’Hanlon (and, later, James Dreyfus) as Thermoman in My Hero; Russ Abbot as Cooperman in The Russ Abbot Show; and even Ronnie Corbett as a superannuated superhero in The One Ronnie.

Brian Lewis brought Les Dawson’s “Superflop” to Look-In.

And of course, who could forget Les Dawson as Superflop, albeit a pretty unremarkable character for the comic genius – except that he got his own strip in Look-In, drawn by Brian Lewis, better known for his work on Countdown, House Of Horror and 2000AD. “This strip isn’t even remotely amusing,” argues writer and artist Peter Doree over on his marvellous Bronze Age of Blogs, “but it is, like all of Lewis’ work, absolutely perfectly illustrated.”

Ant & Dec Battle “Winter Blues”. Image © ITV Plc

Launching tomorrow (31st January), Ant & Dec dress up as superheroes and take on the dastardly monster called ‘The Winter Blues’ as they get ready to burst back on to our screens in February. The duo, dressed in their own superhero outfits are seen climbing a scaled version of the iconic ITV tower as they prepare to put an end to the Winter Blues by returning with their award winning TV series.

Live from ITV studios on Saturday Nights, the brand new series will unmask a host of Undercovers and I’m A Celebrity… Get Out Of My Ear’s along with exciting new strands.

• Follow the show on Twitter at @itvtakeaway | #SaturdayNightTakeaway

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Star Trek Explorer (previously known as Star Trek Magazine) and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War and “Dan Dare”. He’s the writer of "Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies" for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

Categories: Other Worlds, Television

Tags: Ant & Dec, Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Les Dawson, Michael Palin, My Hero, Only Fools and Horses