Inside Alan Carr and Amanda Holden's long-term friendship and how they are now closer than ever after filming new BBC One show
Best friends Amanda Holden and Alan Carr have returned for a second series of Amanda & Alan’s Italian Job.
Series one, which saw the pair transform a dilapidated Sicilian apartment which they bought for just €1 before selling it for charity, was born out of Amanda’s desire to do something nice for Alan after his divorce.
Alan and his party planner husband announced their separation in January 2022 after 13 years together and three years of marriage.
But how did the pair grow to become such close friends, as they are now closer than ever, and what do they get up to together off-screen?
Find out how they met and more below.
Best friends Amanda Holden and Alan Carr have returned for a second series of Amanda & Alan’s Italian Job
Alan and Amanda met on his Channel 4 show Alan Carr Chatty Man’s first series – in 2009 – and she appeared a further seven times
Alan and Amanda met on his Channel 4 show Alan Carr Chatty Man’s first series – in 2009.
She appeared another seven time’s on the funny man’s sofa in the following seven years as the pair became increasingly close.
It even convinced the two to star in an episode of ITV show DNA Journey to see if they shared some distant relation – but with no luck.
Two years before them, in 2019, presenting icons Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly remarkably found out that they were distantly related.
Appearing on Heart Breakfast after her episode aired, the Britain’s Got Talend presenter said: ‘There’s no connection between us except that we love each other but all the way through I was hoping…
‘All the way through I was hoping I was related to Alan Carr… but we’re not.’
Alan, appearing as a guest on the radio show, joked: ‘I was dreading being related to Amanda, because I’ve seen Ant and Dec were and I was like, ‘Oh no no no.’
‘But then we would see our relatives of course and I’d be surprised, literally go behind that door and there is your relative.
‘So we’d go there and Amanda, they didn’t know who they were related to out of me and Amanda and I’m not being rude…
‘They hoped it was me!’
They also co-stared in ITV show DNA Journey in 2021, in the slim hope their fondness of each other was due to some relation
Discussing the programme, the pair joked that all the strangers they met preferred the possibility of being related to Alan over Amanda
Alan gave Amanda her 52nd birthday cake last year – a baked bidet
Seeing the funny side, Amanda added: ‘All of them, it was so funny, they didn’t know who was coming round the corner and of course they see Alan and they are all praying that they’ve got Alan as a relation!’
And since then the duo have only become even tighter, with Alan revealing that their shared renovation project was a huge part of that.
He told The Sun: ‘Amanda and I were showbiz mates, but by the end of the summer we were such good friends. We’re always texting.’
Renovating was not all they were doing in Italy filming series one, with Amanda also admitting that she was trying to find Alan a new man.
So, 2023 became the year that they were at their friendly peak.
Alan presented the radio host with her 52nd birthday cake last February – a baked bidet in reference to a joke born out of their time filming together – in the compony of some of her other showbiz mates such as Alesha Dixon, Ashlee Roberts and Simon Cowell.
They always seem to find time to go on nights out with each other despite their busy work schedules, sometimes even attending red carpet events together.
Amanda and Alan teamed up together at October’s Attitude Awards which they hosted in a paired outfit as Margot Robbie’s Barbie and Michael Cera’s character Allan Sherwood respectively.
They paired their outfits to host October’s Attitude Awards
Amanda channeled her inner Margot Robbie as Barbie
Amanda rung in the New Year in style with her best pal for a wild party at Estelle Manor, Oxfordshire
They rounded off the year together too, at a wild party at Estelle Manor, Oxfordshire.
The Britain’s Got Talent judge, 52, shared a fun gallery of Instagram snaps documenting the night out, joined by her daughters Lexi, 17, Hollie, 11, and a group of their pals.
Ahead of filming the new series of their Italian Job, Amanda said she was ‘delighted’ to be returning – and no doubt as the pair shared their comic experiences together over the months filming.
In one instance, Amanda filmed herself pranking her co-star by creeping up behind and startling him, prompting Alan to exclaim that she was a ‘little b****’.
Their new show debuts on BBC One at 8.30pm.