TV star Declan Donnelly has hinted that he is ready for parenthood - saying he is "looking forward" to starting a family with his fiancee, Ali Astall.

The 39-year-old, one half of presenting duo Ant and Dec, proposed to his talent manager girlfriend on a beach in Australia in November.

He told the Times that seeing his sidekick Ant McPartlin marry make-up artist Lisa Armstrong eight years ago made him reassess his own life.

"It made me look inwardly and realise that's what I wanted, to have a partner and get married, but it wasn't there at the time. I would think 'Oh God, when's that going to happen for me?'," said Donnelly, who previously dated actress Clare Buckfield and TV presenter Georgie Thompson.

"It wasn't a fear of Ant pulling ahead, but more introspection: 'Why haven't I got this yet?'"

Asked about having children, the I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! host suggested that he was ready to become a father.

"I guess that's just the next stage of that dynamic changing and the next stage of our lives," he told the newspaper. "I'm really looking forward to that. Maybe it's because we've turned 40. That milestone is making me think of the next stage of life now."

The pair also compared their friendship, with its "love" and "compromise", to a marriage, to which Donnelly quipped: "And we don't have sex any more."