National Television Awards: Ant and Dec to miss ceremony after catching Covid

Ant and Dec have both caught Covid, so will miss the National Television Awards (NTAs) in London on Thursday.

They joked on Instagram: "Sadly it's true... we even get ill together!"

The duo have won the best TV presenter prize for the past 20 years, and could now scoop their 21st consecutive award - unless Alison Hammond, Graham Norton or Bradley Walsh can beat them.

The ceremony will be live on ITV from Wembley Arena after being postponed following the death of the Queen.

The BBC's EastEnders, ITV's Emmerdale and Netflix's Bridgerton and Heartstopper all have three nominations each.

The event will be hosted by The Masked Singer presenter Joel Dommett, with performances from singers Lewis Capaldi and Sam Ryder, who has replaced Robbie Williams as the opening attraction.

Here are some more things to look out for:

ITV's chief executive last month backed Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield after the hosts were accused of jumping the queue for the Queen's lying-in-state.

The NTAs are voted for by the public, though, so it has been up to the people to decide whether the pair will keep their crowns as daytime queen and king, after This Morning won the daytime award in 2021 - or whether they'll be dethroned by Loose Women, The Chase or The Repair Shop.

Notably, neither Holly nor Phil are up for best TV presenter this year, as they have been in previous years. But the nominations were announced in August, long before "queue-gate".

Ant and Dec underlined their status as the nation's favourite TV hosts last year, after their 20th (yes, 20th) consecutive win in the presenting category.

The last time they didn't win the award was in 2000, to Michael Barrymore. Most of the nominees in this year's rising star category, including Heartstopper's Joe Locke and Kit Connor, were not even born then.

While the duo will be absent through illness on Thursday, the question is whether voters are sick of seeing them win the same award every year.

The Geordie double act are also nominated in the entertainment show category for Saturday Night Takeaway and I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, as well as best talent show for Britain's Got Talent - so there's a good chance we may see an acceptance speech made over video call in their PJs at some stage.

The best authored documentary category includes heartfelt films chronicling the lives of Kate Garraway and her husband Derek, who has been critically ill with Covid; Julia Bradbury with breast cancer; Paddy and Christine McGuinness alongside their three autistic children; as well as Katie Price and her disabled son Harvey.

The final nominee focuses on The Wanted's late singer Tom Parker. Inside My Head, about the music star's brain tumour, was aired in October 2021 - just five months before he died at the age of 33.

Elsewhere, a new category for best expert will see Clarkson's Farm's breakout star Kaleb Cooper, 24, take on 96-year-old broadcasting legend Sir David Attenborough, Money Show Live host Martin Lewis and The Repair Shop's Jay Blades.

A special recognition award will be given to actor and comedy legend Sir Lenny Henry. Previous recent winners have included the Line of Duty team, Sir Michael Palin and David Dimbleby.

Authored documentary

New drama

Returning drama

Drama performance

Serial drama

Serial drama performance

Rising star

TV presenter

The Bruce Forsyth entertainment award

Talent show

Talent show judge

Quiz game show

Factual entertainment

Expert

Comedy

Daytime

The 2022 National Television Awards will be broadcast on ITV from 20:00 BST.