Ayear after withdrawing from all television commitments and checking into rehab, Ant McPartlin sat down with friend and presenting partner Dec Donnelly for an interview with The Guardian newspaper.

In March 2018, Ant drove his car into two others in southwest London while under the influence of alcohol.

He received Britain’s largest ever drink-driving penalty – of £86,000. And a driving ban, for 20 months.

Ant’s publicist said at the time that he had “decided to go back into treatment and step down from his current TV commitments”. Talking about it all in 2019 had Dec in tears within minutes.

The Geordie duo have been working together as presenters now for almost 35 years (Credit: The Jonathan Ross Show/YouTube)

Declan Donnelly ‘in tears’ talking about Ant McPartlin’s rehab stint

Dec told The Guardian in March 2019 that the thought that he might have to forge a solo career after Ant’s crash “crossed my mind”.

“Of course I thought about it. Ant went away, and he had a lot of work to do on himself. He had a lot of thinking to do. Equally, I did. I thought about every eventuality and every permutation.

“Ultimately, the number one thing I wanted to happen was that Ant came back and he was healthy and happy, and we got our relationship back on track and we carried on. That’s the thing that makes me the happiest, working together.”

At this point in the conversation, Dec wipes his eyes and apologises, saying he might get “a bit emotional”.

Then the waterworks start with Ant, too.

But the thought that he might have to work out a career path as an individual was the last thing on Dec’s mind, when Ant checked himself into rehab.

“Everything else pales into insignificance,” he told the paper. “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.”

But their hiatus wasn’t easy on either of them (Credit: Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway/YouTube)

Ant admits that he was ‘lost’ and needed some time to get back on track

Elsewhere in the interview, Ant admits to being “lost” at that time in his life.

He says life “swallowed” him up for a few years. Now, after his stint in rehab and taking some time to seriously reflect on what’s important, his “impulsiveness” and “manicness” are less severe.

He’s more grateful, Dec says, and more humble.

And, while the £86,000 fine might make many people wobble at the knees – not to mention the cost of the therapy he underwent afterwards – Ant was reportedly making £130,000 a week at the time.

So… it didn’t make too much of a dent in his finances.

In 2020, Ant and Dec celebrated 30 years of working together. That year, they released Once Upon A Tyne, a joint memoir featuring stories from their time as a duo and from behind the scenes of their various shows.

…including a story about an “ugly” spat between the pair that turned into a physical altercation, while on a work jolly in Spain.