Ant McPartlin makes joke about his 'breakdown'

Ant McPartlin made a light-hearted joke about his past troubles as he was quizzed by Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan on This Morning.

The TV star and his presenting partner Declan Donnelly went on the ITV morning show to talk about the return of their series Saturday Night Takeaway, which didn’t air in 2019 following McPartlin’s drink-drive charge and stint in rehab.

At one point, Madeley and Finnigan - who were making a special one-off return to the sofa - started talking about what happens when things go wrong on TV, and Madeley asked whether they had ever had “a complete breakdown”.

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Bursting into laughter, McPartlin replied: “That's happened!”

McPartlin and Donnelly also opened up about still battling nerves despite being veterans of the small screen.

Both of the presenters said they still get nervous, and McPartlin added: “Especially for Takeaway, because we rested last year so had a longer period off air, so you do get very nervous bringing it back.”

Donnelly admitted he sometimes gets anxiety dreams.

He said: “'I’ve got a TV in my bedroom with a little red standby light on it. I wake up and I see that light in the middle of the night and I’m like, ‘Oh, we’re on. I’m not ready!’”

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McPartlin pleaded guilty to drink-driving in April 2018 after he was found to be more than twice the legal alcohol limit while driving his Mini in London in March 2018.

He did not work for several months and sought rehabilitation treatment, leaving Donnelly to host Britain’s Got Talent and I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! without him.

This Morning airs from 10am until 12.30pm.

Saturday Night Takeaway returns to ITV on Saturday (February 22).