Stephen Mulhern was a noticeable absentee from Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway and ITV have broken their silence on his absence as well as his future on the show

Stephen Mulhern was an unexpected absentee from last night’s Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV but there has been confirmation about why he was missing and whether he will be returning to the show.

It had been reported that that the 47-year-old TV star was taken ill at the last minute and had to pull out of the show but ITV have said that he will be back for the final show of the long-running entertainment show. This has been confirmed by Stephen’s representative, who has told The Mirror : ” Stephen was due to be involved in one of the sketches in tonight’s show but sadly he was unable to take part due to him feeling unwell. He’s looking forward to being back for the final next weekend.”

This means that Stephen will return for the final ever episode of the popular show, which Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have decided to call time on after 22 years. Fans of the smash hit show will be treated to a two-hour Farewell Spectacular next Saturday.

Stephen Mulhern has been confirmed as returning to Saturday Night Takeaway for the final show ( Image: Kieron McCarron/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
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The absence of Stephen meant that his segments had to be rewritten so that Jordan North could fill in for the TV presenter on the night. Announcing that there was going to be no more Saturday Night Takeaway shows, for now, Ant told viewers: “We just thought it was the perfect time with series 20. It seemed a natural point to pause, celebrate, take a break, look back and reflect on how we want the show to look in future.”

Dec then added: “You can’t do that while the show is on air because it’s such an all-year-round process, filming the Undercovers, Get Out Of Me Ear and the public pranks. We felt you need to come off air for a pause before you can decide what you want to do with it. We’re giving it a rest for now but, after 20 series, we’ll take away some incredibly special moments and memories. We will certainly miss it.”

The Geordie duo then revealed the plans for the final episode, in which Stephen will return to the screens. Dec said: “Next week is your last episode of your Saturday Night Takeaway. But the good news is it’s a live two-hour extravaganza, basically it’s going to be the mother of all parties. We’re taking over the whole of television centre.”

Ant revealed that there would be plenty musical guests as well, telling viewers: “It’s going to be absolutely epic, we’ve got a super singalong live with Tony Hadley, we’ve got 7 Club, Kaiser Chiefs.”