Declan Donnelly will be joined by Paloma Faith and Stephen Merchant when he presents 'Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway' solo.

Declan Donnelly

Declan Donnelly

The 42-year-old star will be without TV partner Ant McPartlin, also 42, for the remaining two episodes of the series as his close friend is currently in rehab after he was charged with drink driving following a collision last weekend.

For the March 31 show, Dec will be joined by 'The Officer' star Stephen, who will take on the Star Guest Announcer role, while 'Picking Up The Pieces' hitmaker Paloma will take part in the 'End of The Show Show' segment.

Elsewhere, Stephen Mulhern's 'In for a Penny, In for a Grand' has been confirmed, and 'Hall of Fame' rockers The Script will perform during the 'Singalong Live!'.

Ant was charged after he hit two cars in his black Mini sports car while driving with his mother in Richmond, south west London, on Sunday (18.03.18).

The TV presenter was arrested following the smash and is set to appear at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court on April 4, and ITV confirmed shortly after the crash that this weekend's planned broadcast of 'Saturday Night Takeaway' will not go ahead.

A spokesman said: "ITV has taken a joint decision with Ant and Dec's team not to broadcast Saturday Night Takeaway this weekend."

But Dec has since confirmed he will front the last two episodes of 'Saturday Night Takeaway', on March 31 and April 7, on his own.

In a statement posted on Ant and Dec's Twitter account on Wednesday (21.03.18), Dec wrote: "Whilst I never thought I'd be in this position, after much discussion and careful consideration we've decided that the remaining two shows of this series of 'Saturday Night Takeaway' will go ahead.

"We made a promise to take hundreds of deserving winners to Florida to watch the series finale, and we will honour that. Everyone at ITV and the Takeaway team feels we owe it to the audience to complete the series. Dec x. (sic)"