Ant and Dec takeaway £6m deal

They are the cheeky Geordie pair who started out as a blind lad and his mate in a children's TV series.

Byker Grove's PJ and Duncan then struck the pop charts with hits such as Let's Get Ready To Rhumble and - as Ant and Dec - have hardly been off our screens since.

Yesterday they revealed they were set to conquer the TV world with a £6million deal - masterminded by Pop Idol's 'Mr Nasty', Simon Cowell.

The lads hope to become American idols when their hit show Saturday Night Takeaway is launched in the US. Filming of a pilot show for the Fox Network - which screens hit shows The Simpsons and King Of The Hill - will begin just before Christmas, said Declan Donnelly, 28.

'I think the plan is to get an American audience in for the show, but we are filming it in Britain,' he said.

'Then we are going to see how it goes - whether Fox like it and whether we like it.'

It was lucky their spoof audition for American Idol - complete with
fake beards, bad clothes, and twangy accents - was not seen by US audiences, he added.

'I don't think it would be the best way for us to introduce ourselves. Maybe we'll show them one day.'

Anthony McPartlin, 27, said breaking the States had never loomed large in their career plan but he was keen to see how the show was received.

Either way, they will not disappear from British screens - ITV has signed them up until next autumn to do two more series here of Saturday Night Takeaway.