Ant and Dec could have been 'Robert and Duncan'

Ant McPartlin has revealed he and Declan Donnelly's Byker Grove alter-egos were very nearly Robert and Duncan.

The Geordie star told the Daily Mirror he originally auditioned to play a character called Robert and was devastated when he was turned down, but he was offered PJ instead.

Ant read for both parts, but there was some confusion when he got the call asking him to join the cast of Byker Grove.

He said: "I was over the moon when I got the part (of Robert). The phone went again and it was the producer saying there had been a mistake. I was heartbroken - but then he said I had the part of PJ instead.

"Otherwise it could have been Robert and Duncan."

Presenting partner and best pal Dec added the pair's success was built on their big break on Byker Grove.

He said: "We owe everything to Byker Grove. When the production company sadly went bust, we bought all the rights. We're so proud of it, we don't want it getting into the wrong hands."

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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.