Ant and Dec from Byker Grove to I’m A Celeb, Britain’s Got Talent, and earning £23,000 a day

TV’s golden couple are laughing all the way to the bank.

New figures this week revealed that Ant and Dec raked in a staggering £23,000 A DAY last year.

It’s just the latest wonga windfall for the Geordie duo with the Midas touch.

We take a look at the fabulous financial ups and the occasional dire down of the richest double act on the telly.

When the duo started as kids on Byker Grove in the early 1990s the unknowns were very happy to be earning £100 per day’s filming.

And other later acting roles weren’t their final financial hour with film fame eluding them as Alien Autopsy’s initial box office takings were just half of the £5 million budget.

It was presenting, not acting, that set the pair on the road to riches.

Kids shows like SMTV and CD:UK put them on the primetime telly radar and Pop Idol followed.

But it was the magic triple bill of Saturday Night Takeaway, I’m A Celebrity and then Britain’s Got Talent that have made their fortunes.

All are among ITV’s biggest, highest-earning hits and the network has tied them to massive golden handcuffs deals for well over a decade.

For the first few years they’re thought to have been earning £2.5 million each per year.

In 2007 that rocketed, though, with insiders putting the latest two-year deal at a mind-boggling £40 million.

But the gloss came off with a vengeance just a year later when Saturday Night Takeaway and their Gameshow Marathon were caught up in a scandal over premium rate phone-in line abuses.

Although it was the broadcaster that was hit with a record £5.6 million fine, the duo later admitted they feared it could be the end for them if they’d lost public trust.

And there was a double whammy the following year with the financial crash resulting in millions being sliced off the next two-year-deal with £20 million the new pay cheque.

With good times rolling again their latest three-year deal is worth £30 million.

And the duo have been smart enough to know that being your own boss and owning what you work on is the best way to look after the pennies.

They own three companies with the latest figures, from Ant’s Teecourt, Dec’s Deecourt and their jointly-run Hurley Promotions, showing they pocketed £8.4 million in the past year.

While the numbers have fluctuated, they’ve always had a healthy payday, contributing to what’s thought to be a £60 million personal fortune.

And it’s believed they made £15 million selling the rights of Saturday Night Takeaway to American television as well as raking in many more millions from their Morrisons supermarket tie-up and some £3 million for their autobiography.

While they grew up in council houses with Dec and thhe youngest of seven kids having to share a bedroom with his three brothers, their success means life is a lot more lavish now.

They have a £10-million property portfolio including their luxurious west London homes unsurprisingly just a stone’s throw apart.