‘I worked with Ant and Dec – this is the truth about their relationship off-screen’
Ant and Dec first met in 1989 (Image: Getty)
Mike Hedges, the music producer behind Ant and Dec’s single ‘We’re on the Ball’, has revealed what it’s really like working with the duo. Speaking to Smooth Spins Casino, Mike – who has also collaborated with The Cure and U2 – described the pair as “amazing”.
“They were huge on TV at the time. They still are!” he recalled. “And you don’t know how people are going to be, but they were just as you would imagine. There’s no putting anything on for the camera, they are just as likeable in real life. In fact, they’re so funny that we’d all leave the studio with our sides hurting from laughter.
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Music producer Mike Hedges called the pair “amazing” to work with (Image: Getty)
“They were so down to earth too. They were just happy to chat and would offer to make everyone a cup of tea. They didn’t have any ego about them. You wouldn’t have known they were famous at all.”
Asked if Ant and Dec appear to be close in real life, Mike replied: “Oh yes, they had a great friendship. They really bounced off each other. They just got on well and had a good time, but when it came down to recording, they were absolute professionals.”
Ant and Dec were introduced on the set of Byker Grove when they were 13 (Image: Getty)
Friends for almost 40 years, Ant and Dec first met on the set of CBBC’s Byker Grove in 1989. They were 13. After becoming close friends on the show, the pair began performing together as PJ & Duncan throughout the ’90s.
Eventually, Ant and Dec turned their attention to presenting, and by 1995, were helming The Ant & Dec Show. By 1998, the duo had begun co-hosting SMTV Live, and in 2002, they’d landed two of their biggest presenting gigs: Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway and I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here.
Speaking about their decade-spanning friendship in 2019, Dec told The Guardian: “We always said our career was built on our friendship and that our friendship was the secret of our success. The career just happened by accident.”