Saturday Night Takeaway finale review: Has Dec come to terms with his unwanted solo career? It seems so
Declan Donnelly clicking his heels on Saturday night without Ant McPartlin for company would have been unthinkable – if not existentially terrifying – just a few weeks ago.
But the shock factor was truly gone as Dec took Saturday Night Takeaway (ITV) to sunny (ish) Universal Orlando Resort in Florida for the final episode of a troubled season while McPartlin continued his stay in rehab following a drink driving charge.
A performance by The Rembrandts of The Friends theme – the one with the on-the-nose "I'll Be There For You" chorus – felt cheesy rather than unbearably poignant.
And the sighting of a pre-recorded McPartlin during in-show action skit "Saturday Knight Takeaway" failed to tug at the heartstrings (the big surprise here were Noel Edmonds's thespian chops as he was unmasked as the Darth Vader-esque villain). Ant was gone (for the time being). Dec was flying solo. There are probably bigger things to worry about.
Ant McPartlin: from squeaky clean star to a man fighting to conquer his demons
From his body language, it seems Dec, too, has come to terms with his unsought for solo career (it's unclear how long it will last, though it may extend into Britain's Got Talent, resuming next weekend).
In uncharacteristically overcast Florida he was a one-man light entertainment onslaught – all singing, all dancing, brimming with confidence. Conspicuously absent were the jitters on view seven days previously when he returned to Saturday Night Takeaway minus Ant, his on-screen partner for going on 20 years.
Not that McPartlin's absence wasn't noticeable. Saturday Night Takeaway's undercard presenters Scarlett Moffatt and Stephen Mulhern are a reminder just how effortlessly Ant and Dec make this stuff feel – in so far as, when the b-listers are on screen, you can feel the effort very much indeed.
So it went here, with Mulhern mugging like one-man mug-factory the week before nation mug day – incredibly they're turning his In For A Penny In For A Grand segment into its own show – and Moffatt falling back on her standard modus of laughing all the time.
A trip to glamorous America also had the implicit promise of top calibre guests. Instead it was c-lister Denise Richards in the announcer's booth and Jason Derulo (a sort of Poundland Drake) and Craig David singing. Anyone who goes all the way to Florida to hang out with Craig David probably needs a new travel agent.
As with last week's episode Donnelly was wary of confronting recent issues head-on. "Thank you for all your love and support during the series," he said at the end – probably the closest he will come to a raw display of emotion on our airwaves.
The amateur psychologist watching at home may, it is true, have discerned a glimmer of sadness behind that familiar twinkle. But it was otherwise brash, charming turn from a natural born showman. If this is what life without Ant looks like, a tiny part of Dec may have concluded that he could get used to it.
Ant McPartlin timeline
