Ant and Dec legally trademark their name and phrase ‘Ant & Dec presents’ to protect brand for years to come
ANT and Dec were named telly presenters of the year for an unprecedented 19th time at the annual National Television Awards tonight.
The Geordie duo, both 44, also took home the Bruce Forsyth Entertainment Award for I’m a Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here — taking their haul to 41 awards over the years.
Their wins came as it emerged they have legally trademarked their names Ant & Dec and the phrase Ant & Dec presents.
Accepting the TV Presenter award, Ant and Dec insisted they were still shocked to have won. Ant said: “Thank you very much. On the way in, we had our chat as we usually do about this being the year we don’t win it, and we were like, it’s been a great run, we’re very lucky to do what we do, and then you go and do this again. Thank you.
“We are more grateful and more humble as the years go on and we really do thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”
Dec added: “We are so grateful. It never gets any easier sat there, if anything you feel more and more sick every year. But thank you.”
Host David Walliams later joked about the awards voting system.
He declared: “We all know what really happens. Some Russians interfere with the vote and Ant and Dec win every time.”
For the TV Presenter gong they beat Holly Willoughby — who filled in for Ant in the 2018 series of I’m a Celebrity while he was in rehab for drink and painkiller addictions.
This Morning co-star Phillip Schofield, Graham Norton and Bradley Walsh were also nominated.
I’m a Celeb pipping The Graham Norton Show, The Chase and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.
Walliams, 48, won the TV Judge category and appeared on stage without his trousers.
He said: “Wow, thank you, this is the moment I will be remembered for, when I die, which I will. This is the clip they will show on the news, me, in my pants, at the O2. Actually, they’re not mine, they’re Simon Cowell’s.”
Crime drama Peaky Blinders was named best drama and Cillian Murphy, 43, won best drama performance for his role as gangster Tommy Shelby.
Ant and Dec’s move to register their names as a trademark with the Intellectual Property Office includes its use on a wide variety of merchandise and projects.
The agreement by the pair, who have made more than £120million, also protects their rights to the branding on TV shows, computer games, apps, music, DVDs, audio books, websites, blogs and forums.
They have also ring-fenced the marketing of printed books, stationery, greetings cards and educational material in their names.
And they have protected themselves against their names being used at theme parks, discos, amusement arcades, theatres and even circuses without permission.
Ant & Dec are set to write a book about their careers. And they recently landed a new £40million golden handcuffs deal with ITV.
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