Hartlepool family has best seats in the house for tonight's Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway

Darran Hutchinson is currently on a train to London with his wife and three children after they won the coveted tickets last week.

It was Darran’s wife, Helen, 47, and their 10-year-old daughter Libby, who figured out where the sofa was hiding for the Mother’s Day special of the challenge.

Each week sofas are put in different locations around the country, with people bidding to track them down and win prime seats for the ITV1 show.

The sofa was at Hartlepool’s Maritime Experience, which is formerly known as Hartlepool Historic Quay.

Darran, 47, a child and adult team co-ordinator at Hartlepool Borough Council, said: “The sofa was at the Historic Quay and my wife and daughter went down to find it.

“They picked a number and when it went back to the show, the computer chose Hartlepool, then chose our number, 24, and we were so excited.”

Darran and Helen, a care worker for Hartlepool Borough Council, will also be joined on the sofa tonight by sons Nicholas, 25, and Matthew, 19.

They’ll watch the show from the sofa in the centre of the studio and will have Geordie duo Ant and Dec check on them throughout the night.

Darran, from Hart Village, said: “We’re really excited. We’re getting picked up when we get to King’s Cross and taken to the studio for 5pm.

“The show doesn’t start until 7pm so we’re hoping we might get to meet Ant and Dec beforehand. There’s a great line-up tonight too so we’re hoping we get to meet everyone.

“We always watch the show as a family so we’re over the moon to be going down together to watch it from the studio.

“Being chosen feels like a one in a million chance and it’s going to be brilliant.”

Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway starts at 7pm tonight on ITV1.

Guests include singer Craig David, Spice Girl Mel B and The Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence.