Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway returned to ITV on Saturday night with a series of celebrity appearances and jokes, but it has been hit with a wave of complaints from viewers unhappy with a 'cruel' prank played on a first-time dad.

The prank included a fake baby scan and a series of made-up experiences that infiltrated the dad's nine-month pregnancy journey with his wife. 

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Viewers were outraged by the prank and labelled it as being in 'bad taste' and 'mean'.

The prank involved sending the first-time dad to a ridiculous birthing class where he was filmed rolling around in a fake pregnant belly and a photoshoot that saw him dressed as a giant teddy bear. 

In an attempt to make amends for the prank, Ant and Dec opened a children's savings account on behalf of baby Finley and deposited one thousand pounds for each year of his childhood until he was 18. 

Despite this, the episode has now been hit with 130 complaints from unhappy viewers, with 111 of them relating to the series of pranks played on the husband throughout his wife's pregnancy.