Ant and Dec reprise PJ and Duncan roles for Santander deal reportedly worth £2m 

At the age of 46, Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly might seem a little on the young side to be reliving their childhood.

But, there again, it seems they are being extraordinarily well rewarded – with the stars reported to be receiving £1million each to reprise their early Byker Grove roles as PJ and Duncan.

Dressed in trademark baggy outfits and caps, Ant and Dec are promoting Santander – a bank splashing the cash on advertising while slashing its branch network and opening hours.

The pair were spotted riding around on Santander bikes – rebranded as Bank of Antandec bikes – in west London, with matching red rucksacks on their backs. 

McPartlin and Donnelly first appeared in the bank’s advertising campaigns in 2019 in a deal reported to be worth £1million each.

The I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! presenters met as 13-year-olds on the set of the BBC’s Byker Grove, about a youth centre in Newcastle.

In the show’s fifth series, in 1993, their characters PJ (McPartlin) and Duncan (Donnelly) formed a band and later signed a record deal. The duo went on to record a successful album in real life.

But while the presenters are laughing all the way to the bank, Santander customers may not be so pleased – as last week it announced it was cutting its opening hours.

From July almost all of Santander’s 450 high street branches will close 90 minutes earlier during the week. Saturday hours will also be cut, with 316 branches moving to a half-day service.

Previously, customers could visit between 9.30am and 4.30pm, but from July 18, only those who book an appointment and cannot get the support they need online or by phone will be seen after 3pm.

And the reduction in hours comes after Santander closed 111 branches last year. It has shut 470 since 2015, meaning it has axed half of its network over the past seven years, according to Which?, the consumer group.

Santander, which has 14million customers and saw profits soar by 266 per cent to £1.86billion in the UK last year, said more people preferred to bank online or by phone. But consumer groups have warned that cutting opening hours would be a blow to the elderly and vulnerable who rely on a face-to-face service.

McPartlin and Donnelly present ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent and have just finished hosting the 18th series of Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway. As PJ and Duncan, they had a No 1 hit with Let’s Get Ready To Rhumble in 2013 after performing it on Saturday Night Takeaway – 19 years after its original release.