Ant and Dec reveal how they nearly split over drink-driving conviction

The North East presenters - known and Ant and Dec - will return to screens as a duo next weekend on Britain's Got Talent, said that they were forced to think about their future together and talk about "deep things" for the first time in years.

Speaking to the Guardian's Weekend magazine in a joint interview, Dec said he was angry and upset over his colleague's drink-driving offence, which he said was "indefensible".

Ant was fined a record £86,000 and banned from driving for 20 months after he crashed his car in March last year while more than twice the alcohol limit.

He stepped down from his TV commitments, returning to work alongside Dec in January to film Britain's Got Talent.

As reported by the publication the pair said that they deliberated over calling time on their partnership of 30 years.

Dec is reported to have said that he did think about splitting from his co-star and friend, but that he ultimately wanted Ant to be happy and healthy, and for their relationship to go back to what it was.

Ant said: "For the first time in many years, all we talked about were deep things like how we felt, and what the future held, and where we were, and all the chaos that has come along, especially for me."

The TV stars met in 1989 on the set of children's programme Byker Grove, before going on to form a musical duo under their characters' names PJ and Duncan, and then becoming TV presenters in the mid-1990s.

They host programmes including Britain's Got Talent, Saturday Night Takeaway and I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, which saw McPartlin replaced by Holly Willoughby at the end of last year.

The full interview with McPartlin and Donnelly will appear in Saturday's edition of the Guardian's Weekend magazine.