Ant v Dalek
- Publication: Daily Mirror
- Date: 2005-03-26
- Author: Cameron Robertson
- Page: 11
- Language: English
Sci-fi classic battles Ant and Dec for Saturday TV viewers
ANT and Dec tonight battle it out with Doctor Who in the TV ratings war but punters' money is on the Geordie duo.
Bookies have taken hundreds of bets on who will score the most viewers with Ant and Dec edging in front.
Warren Lush, of Ladbrokes, said: "I can't remember the last time there was such expectations over a new drama series like Doctor Who.
"There's nothing comparable in this battle for ratings with Ant and Dec. The industry is taking a five-figure sum over this - and many hundreds of pounds from individuals."
ITV is pulling out all the stops to beat the BBC's £10million relaunch of family favourite Doctor Who during the peak-time 7pm slot.
Football star David Beckham and singer sensation Mariah Carey will appear on Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway which usually pulls in around eight million viewers.
Little Ant and Dec take the mickey out of the England captain, dressing him up like Prince Charles with fake jug ears to make him king of Beokingham Palace.
They also get a sly dig in that if he has 78 England caps, why is he going bald?
David, 29, replied: "No! Someone said that the other day - but I'm not!"
Little Ant and Dec carry on: "We've heard that baldies do it better. What does that mean?" Laughing at the innuendo. David says: "You'll have to ask Victoria."
He also agrees that Victoria is "a chatterbox" and that when Posh told people that David wore her knickers, he says: "When I heard that I was very embarrassed, but it wasn't true." Becks said he didn't sing football songs with Victoria so Little Ant and Dec got him to sing along to Newcastle United fans' anthem When The Mags Go Marching In.
And they quiz the Real Madrid player about his new football academy, near the Millennium Dome in South London. They ask if it's all about football or if there's "boring stuff like maths" too. The pair also dupe the Real Madrid star to playing for their favourite team Newcastle United with a folded contract so Becks can't see what he's signing.
But despite the presenters' hilarious antics, the BBC is confident the new Doctor Who series, back by popular demand after 16 years away, will pull in a huge audience.
Sporting Index predicts 8.25million will watch the show starring Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor and Billie Piper as his assistant.
Mr Lush said: "Most of the money has been for Ant and Dec - you can't underestimate them - and it's typical they got David Beckham on. He could clinch it for them.
"But the BBC could have a slow-burner on its hands as Doctor Who's audience grows to win the war."
Some fans of the Tardis-travelling Timelord have already seen the heavily plugged first episode after it found its way on to the Internet.
But its executive producer Russell T Davies, who has written the 13 part series, does not think that will effect the ratings.
He said: do not think it's that big a deal. A couple of thousand people will watch it on the Internet. I think they are also the people who will watch it again on transmission."
And he hopes the show will run and run. He said: want to give this a good few years - there's so much more to learn. You can't just leave a show like this."
Captions:
FIGHT: Ant & Dec and Billie and Chris
ITV Little Ant & Dec have fun with "King Becks"
Rocket ship on the Thames in Dr Who
The who's 'Who' of soap stars
SOAP fans might think they have travelled through time when they see these clips of EastEnders and Coronation Street stars appearing in Dr Who before they were famous.
Helen Worth, the Street's Gail Platt, played a spaceman's daughter in a 1971 episode The Colony in Space.
But it's EastEnders stars who dominate. Lucy Benjamin (Lisa Mitchell), appeared in 1983's Mawdryn Undead when she was 13. June Brown (Dot Branning) starred in 1973's The Time Warrior. And Hywel Bennett (Jack Dalton), played an alien in 1965. Derek Martin (Charlie Slater), was a guard in The Image of the Fendahl in 1977 and Leslie Grantham (Dirty Den) had a role - as a possessed stooge - in 1984.
Carry On star Bernard Bresslaw, left, was Varga, leader of the Ice Warriors, in 1967. And Emmerdale star Adele Silva appeared in the last Doctor Who, Survival, in 1989.
Other stars with parts include Sooty's Matthew Corbett, Men Behaving Badly's Martin Clunes and Windsor Davies.
Famous fans who got their wish to appear included John Cleese, Nicholas Parsons, Martin Clunes, Alexei Sayle, Honor Blackman and Ken Dodd.
HELEN WORTH Spaceman's daughter in 1971
JUNE BROWN In The Time Warrior in 1973
LESLIE GRANTHAM 1984 part as a Dr Who enemy
LUCY BENJAMIN 1983 role when she was 13
HYWEL BENNETT Played alien in 1965 episode
CHARLIE SLATER Security guard in 1977 show
ADELE SILVA Was in the last show in 1989
MARTIN WINES Who role before he was a star
WINDSOR DAVIS Exterminated by Daleks in 1967
ALEXEI SAYLE Famous fan got a part in 1985
Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org
- APA 6th ed.: Robertson, Cameron (2005-03-26). Ant v Dalek. Daily Mirror p. 11.
- MLA 7th ed.: Robertson, Cameron. "Ant v Dalek." Daily Mirror [add city] 2005-03-26, 11. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Robertson, Cameron. "Ant v Dalek." Daily Mirror, edition, sec., 2005-03-26
- Turabian: Robertson, Cameron. "Ant v Dalek." Daily Mirror, 2005-03-26, section, 11 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Ant v Dalek | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Ant_v_Dalek | work=Daily Mirror | pages=11 | date=2005-03-26 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=13 March 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Ant v Dalek | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Ant_v_Dalek | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=13 March 2025}}</ref>
