POINT OF NOEL RETURN
Noel Edmonds ‘in talks to host rival to Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway’
NOEL Edmonds is in talks to host a new prime-time show to rival the success of Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly's ratings juggernaut Saturday Night Takeaway.
The 70-year-old I'm A Celebrity star - once the undisputed king of Saturday night telly - is said to be meeting ITV execs "within days to thrash out a plan".
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A source told the : "ITV is hoping to find Noel a prime-time Saturday game show to be as big as Saturday Night Takeaway.
"Bosses loved him on I’m A Celebrity and he was great with the crew backstage too. He’s out of contract with Channel 4 and is meeting ITV execs next week to discuss formats and ideas."
Noel has long spoken about how Ant and Dec's format rips off his fondly-remembered House Party series that at its peak pulled in 15 million viewers to BBC One.
He said in 2015: "They plundered the House Party archives and created Takeaway." However, he added that he considers it a "compliment".
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If telly bosses do lure him back to prime-time TV, it would gift Noel the chance to do the same back to the Geordie pair.
The star, who presented Deal Or No Deal on Channel 4 for 11 years, promised to retire if he won the blockbuster last series of I'm A Celeb.
However, he ended up being voted out of the jungle first, despite being the highest-paid star ever to appear on the show, with a pay packet of £600,000.
He later said he was "disappointed" to go, saying: "I was hoping to hang around for a little bit longer. I hadn't even actually got into my stride."
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Nonetheless, he struck a chord with viewers, who were delighted by his gentle jokes, friendship with Harry Redknapp and his impressive physique - which earned him the nickname "Noel Shredmonds".
Noel, who started out as a newsreader on Radio Luxembourg, has hosted a string of iconic shows including Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Top of the Pops, The Late, Late Breakfast Show and Telly Addicts.
He also presented the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest, the first National Lottery show and hosted the original version of the BBC's car hit Top Gear.
In 1991, he took the reins of Noel's House Party, which introduced the nation to his sidekick, Mr Blobby, with the Saturday night variety show running until the axe fell on it in 1998.
But with talks set to start on a new project soon, it seems the veteran broadcaster may not be done with TV stardom just yet.
Noel Edmonds gives Harry Redknapp a massage in luxury hotel reliving a classic I'm A Celebrity moment
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