Dec Donnelly surprises Northumberland pub-goers with impromptu performance

TV presenter Dec Donnelly (one half of the iconic presenting duo Ant and Dec) gave pub-goers in Northumberland a surprise, when he showed up and gave an impromptu performance. 

Dec, who was born and raised in Newcastle Upon Tyne before finding fame alongside fellow geordie Ant McPartlin, returned to his home turf to celebrate New Year’s Eve. 

Ant and Dec met on the set of Newcastle-based children’s drama television series, Byker Grove as youngsters, and have enjoyed an incredibly successful partnership ever since. 

The pair had a brief pop career following their acting roles in Byker Grove, but soon moved to presenting on huge TV shows. The pair are most known for presenting Britain's Got Talent and I’m A Celebrity: Get Me Out of Here.

Ant and Dec are highly regarded as the nation’s favourite presenters, picking up the award for best TV presenter 22 times in total.

Despite currently living in London with his wife Ali and two young children, Dec headed back to the North East over New Year’s Eve. 

Read Newcastle's news on the go with our free email newsletters - bringing the headlines to your inbox. Catch up on the day's news and sport and enjoy even more from the NewcastleWorld team. Visit our website here to find out more and sign up.

In a TikTok video uploaded by band The Optics, Dec was seen to join the band to belt out Billy Joel classic Piano Man, at The Badger in Ponteland. 

The Optics captioned the video: “Was an absolute pleasure to acompany Dec for a couple of our favourite songs. What an amazing night we both had!”

In the 40-second video Dec can be seen singing the song, with lyrics on his phone, while the crowd cheered. 

He also gestured to the piano player, saying: “Ladies and gentleman, the real piano man” before shaking his hand. 

The TikTok clip has currently racked up 14.2k likes.