Dani Behr and Joe Mace will no longer present The Saturday Show on BBC One from mid-September.

The duo's departure has been brought about by Mace's unwillingness to renew his contract, said the BBC.

Behr and Mace have fronted the children's series - commissioned to battle ITV's hit SM:tv in the ratings - since it began in 2001.

Almost a year later, the pair will bid their farewells, to be immediately replaced by a couple of fresh faces.

Ant and Dec were SM:tv's original presenters

Rather than bring in a new sidekick for Behr, the corporation decided to give The Saturday Show a new look.

A BBC spokesman praised the "fantastic job" done by Behr and Mace.

"This time last year Saturday mornings were not doing at all well for us," he said.

"Now we've got a new show and we're neck-and-neck among kids with SM:tv and we know SM:tv are worried about that."

Talent search

The spokesman added that the show was going through a rethink.

The aim is for the show to attract a "broader and younger audience among children".

"There's no one else lined up at the moment but we're about to start looking," said the spokesman.

Live and Kicking: Could not win back audiences

Mace, 30, said he wanted to leave the programme to pursue other projects.

He was previously best known for Top of the Pops Plus.

Before The Saturday Show, Behr's track record was on show's targeted at young adults, such as The Word.

'Sexy'

The Saturday Show replaced the long-running show Live and Kicking, which had been losing viewers to ITV.

Unlike Live and Kicking, The Saturday Show runs all year.

Its format - although made up of the usual Saturday morning TV mix of chart music, celebrities and sketches - was also promoted as being "sexy" and including "maximum mayhem".

After a disappointing start, with ITV's SM:tv continuing to do better in the ratings, The Saturday Show began to pick up.

Last weekend, The Saturday Show had a maximum audience of 1 million viewers while SM:tv peaked at 1.3 million.