Ant & Dec 'not involved in phone issues'

ITV executive chairman Michael Grade has said that Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly knew nothing of phone vote irregularities on their shows.

Grade was asked whether the pair knew about the problems because they are credited as executive producers on Saturday Night Takeaway, one of the shows named in today's Deloitte report.

"An executive producer credit in their case is kind of a vanity credit," Grade explained to reporters at a press conference today. "It gave them the comfort... that the editorial team would have to listen to them."

Today, McPartlin told the Guardian: "We'd like to make it clear that we had no idea these problems existed. We have been fully supportive of this review and are extremely disappointed to discover that these irregularities have occurred."