Ant McPartlin will make an emotional return to screens this weekend when he is reduced to tears by a group of primary school children during Britain’s Got Talent’s 2019 debut on ITV.
The presenter, who last year stepped down from TV commitments following a drink-driving conviction, will cry and embrace his co-presenter Declan Donnelly during a performance by Lancashire’s Flakefleet Primary School, aged between five and 11.
The episode will see McPartlin welcome the children – dressed in an array of costumes including firemen, space rockets, rabbits and dinosaurs – onto the stage to sing Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen.
McPartlin will fight back tears but become overwhelmed after being embraced by his co-host.
Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams will also return to judge the variety acts at the London Palladium and The Lowry in Manchester.
Viewers will be welcomed back by McPartlin and Donnelly in a skit which will see them jump into a taxi to the London Palladium, with McPartlin quipping: “Right, let’s get on with the show.”
The high-energy performance will be kicked off by a drag queen dressed as the Queen.
Ventriloquist Jimmy Tamley, 64, from Devon, will win plaudits after inviting Walliams and Holden up on stage.
But his performance will take an unexpected turn when the Little Britain star strips to his underwear and clambers onto the judge’s table in front of a shocked-looking Cowell.
Ron, an act from Nottinghamshire, will leave the judges baffled when he appears on stage dressed as a Dalek from Doctor Who.
Possibly the most daring act of the night will be the Vardanyan Brothers, aged 28 and 32, from Russia, whose death-defying balancing act will have the judges and audience covering their eyes.
Britain’s Got Talent returns to ITV next Saturday.