UK game show
Blind Date
is a British
dating game show
first produced by
London Weekend Television
. An unscreened pilot was made with comic
Duncan Norvelle
as presenter
[1]
but it was eventually hosted by
Cilla Black
, who already hosted the LWT series
Surprise Surprise
.
Blind Date
originally ran on Saturday nights from 30 November 1985 to 31 May 2003 on
ITV
.
The show returned in 2017 on
Channel 5
. The new series began airing on 17 June 2017 in its usual Saturday night slot and is produced by
So Television
,
Olga TV
and Stellify Media, a firm part-owned by
Sony Pictures Television
.
[2]
Paul O'Grady
presented the revived series.
[3]
Melanie Sykes
became the new voice of the show, taking over the role most famously held by
Graham Skidmore
in the original series.
[4]
Format
[
edit
]
The show had a format similar to the show known in Australia as
Perfect Match
or in the US as
The Dating Game
. Three singles of the same sex were introduced to the audience. They were then asked a question by a single individual of the opposite sex, who could hear but not see them, to choose with whom to go on a date. Before the decision
"Our Graham" Skidmore
(replaced in the final ITV series by
Tommy Sandhu
), who was never seen, gave an amusing reminder of each contestant. The couple then picked an envelope naming their destination. The following episode showed the couple on their date, as well as interviews with them about the date and each other. Locations ranged from
Bognor Regis
or a date in an ice cream factory, to
Anguilla
or the
Maldives
.
In the final original series (2002?03), the format was tweaked; the "Ditch or Date?" twist was added to the show.
[5]
Also, a behind-the-scenes companion show, called
Blind Date: Kiss & Tell
was produced for
ITV2
and hosted by
Sarah Cawood
and
Brendan Courtney
.
[6]
In 2003, the show was broadcast live to try to improve dwindling ratings.
History
[
edit
]
Production
[
edit
]
A
pilot
, as
It's a Hoot!
, was shot in early 1985 and fronted by comedian
Duncan Norvelle
.
John Birt
,
LWT
's director of programmes, and the
IBA
regulatory body had reservations about Norvelle's camp style. Black had seen
The Dating Game
in the US and enthused about it to LWT's Alan Boyd, who produced
Surprise, Surprise
and who made the Norvelle pilot. After two pilots starring Black, the series was commissioned.
[1]
Thelma Pickles, an old girlfriend of
John Lennon
, worked as a
producer
on the show.
[7]
The distinctive theme music for
Blind Date
has a strong resemblance to the jazz standard "
Soft Winds
" and was composed by
Laurie Holloway
.
Popularity and decline
[
edit
]
At the height of its popularity in the 1980s, 18.2 million tuned in on a Saturday night. Black's scouse accent and her catchphrases became familiar throughout the United Kingdom. The show won the Lew Grade Award at the
British Academy Television Awards
in 1995.
[8]
The first episode of Series 17, on 10 November 2001, was reportedly watched at 19:00 GMT by seven million viewers ? 32% of the audience. This was around a million fewer than tuned in to its debut episode in the previous series.
[9]
This was likely to state that its popularity was on the wane. Black was responsible for ITV shifting its football programme,
The Premiership
, to make way for the new series in a prime-time slot. The broadcaster reportedly gave in to Black's ultimatum "move the Premiership football programme or I quit".
[10]
Viewing figures had declined to 5 million by 2003.
[
citation needed
]
The final episode in May 2003 was seen by 2.9 million viewers.
[11]
Cancellation
[
edit
]
The series ended in 2003 when, during an episode on 4 January 2003 (the first to be broadcast
live
), Black announced she was quitting the show.
[12]
[13]
The production crew had not been told. A change in the show's format was one of the factors in her decision to leave the show.
[14]
Production was halted after the series ended;
Trisha Goddard
,
Dale Winton
and
Paul O'Grady
were to be in line for her replacement
[15]
but the show was later cancelled. ITV had been refused permission to make changes to the format by
Columbia
, the US company which owned
Blind Date
at the time.
[11]
However, ITV briefly aired a similar replacement show in 2004 hosted by
Davina McCall
, called
Love on a Saturday Night
, and from 2010 to 2019,
Take Me Out
, hosted by
Paddy McGuinness
.
Brief return
[
edit
]
Blind Date
returned on 20 May 2006, as part of ITV's coverage of a concert held outside the
Tower of London
to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the foundation of the charity
The Prince's Trust
. Comedian
Patrick Kielty
and TV presenter
Kate Thornton
acted as hosts for the show which featured
Dame Edna Everage
,
Roger Moore
,
Richard E. Grant
and
Chico Slimani
as contestants.
[16]
It returned again on 16 October 2013 to celebrate Black's 50-year career in the entertainment industry. This special one-off was part of another programme,
The One and Only Cilla Black
, presented by
Paul O'Grady
.
[17]
Black returned as host, and producers brought back three of the show's most memorable contestants who were still single, giving them a second chance to win a date.
[18]
However, the couple's date was not shown.
Revival
[
edit
]
A planned Irish revival of the format, hosted by
Lucy Kennedy
on
TV3
, was dropped by the broadcaster in June 2015.
[19]
It was later picked up with comedian
Al Porter
announced as the host in May 2017.
[20]
In February 2017, it was announced that
Blind Date
would be returning but would now be aired on
Channel 5
fourteen years after being cancelled.
[2]
On 16 March 2017,
Paul O'Grady
was announced as the show's new presenter who replaced
Cilla Black
since her death in August 2015
[3]
and
Melanie Sykes
provides the voiceover.
[4]
The revived series began on 17 June 2017 and received mainly positive reviews.
[21]
Unlike the original version, the revival features both mixed and same-sex couplings.
Celebrity contestants
[
edit
]
Blind Date
featured celebrities before they became well known. These include:
In a
Comic Relief
sketch from 1993,
Mr. Bean
from the
British sitcom of the same name
appears as a contestant on the show. The sketch featured
Rowan Atkinson
as Bean,
Barbara Durkin
as Tracy, Bean's date, and Cilla Black as herself. The other contestants were played by
Alan Cumming
and
Paul Opacic
.
A 2002 celebrity Christmas edition featured
Tara Palmer-Tomkinson
and
Alex Sibley
.
[14]
Weddings
[
edit
]
During the show's history, three
Blind Date
weddings took place and were watched by millions of television viewers. Black was a guest at the weddings.
- Sue Middleton & Alex Tatham (1991) ? met on the show in 1988, married in October 1991 and celebrated 25 years together in 2013.
[28]
They appeared as mystery guests on
The Big Fat Quiz of Everything 2019
.
- Lillian Morris & David Fenson (1994) ? they married in February 1994 in
Tiverton, Devon
.
[29]
- Anna Azonwanna & Paul Pratt (1998) ? met on the show in September 1993 and married in October 1998 in
Barbados
.
[30]
The other couples also attended the wedding with Cilla.
[31]
On 29 December 2001, the episode saw contestant Hannarle Davies from Essex propose to Mark Ackerell from Buckinghamshire; after they fell in love on their date to
Vienna
,
Austria
.
[32]
Davies later admitted that the proposal was a joke.
[33]
Cosmopolitan
controversy
[
edit
]
A contestant named Nicola Gill came on the show, claiming she was a temporary secretary, when she was actually a journalist for
Cosmopolitan
. When Black found out about this, she exposed the truth about Gill's deception on the show, leading Gill to get booed by the audience, and her date to go away in total shock. Her date was later brought back on a different episode and offered a second chance, but as the one choosing from the three girls (as well as going on the holiday to
Nepal
by himself).
[34]
Episodes
[
edit
]
Original
[
edit
]
Series
[
edit
]
Series
|
Start date
|
End date
|
Episodes
|
1
|
30 November 1985
|
11 January 1986
|
7
|
2
|
30 August 1986
|
21 December 1986
|
15
|
3
|
5 September 1987
|
25 December 1987
|
17
|
4
|
3 September 1988
|
25 December 1988
|
17
|
5
|
16 September 1989
|
10 February 1990
|
21
|
6
|
29 September 1990
|
2 February 1991
|
19
|
7
|
7 September 1991
|
25 January 1992
|
19
|
8
|
10 October 1992
|
27 March 1993
|
21
|
9
|
18 September 1993
|
5 February 1994
|
18
|
10
|
1 October 1994
|
4 March 1995
|
22
|
11
|
16 September 1995
|
2 March 1996
|
24
|
12
|
28 September 1996
|
8 March 1997
|
24
|
13
|
20 September 1997
|
14 March 1998
|
26
|
14
|
21 November 1998
|
15 May 1999
|
24
|
15
|
20 November 1999
|
13 May 2000
|
24
|
16
|
18 November 2000
|
5 May 2001
|
24
|
17
|
10 November 2001
|
25 May 2002
|
25
|
18
|
19 October 2002
|
31 May 2003
|
27
|
|
Specials
[
edit
]
Date
|
Entitle
|
29 July 1989
|
The Best of Blind Date
|
22 September 1990
|
The Best of Blind Date
|
9 February 1991
|
The Best of Blind Date
|
20 October 1991
|
Blind Date Wedding of the Year
|
1 January 1994
|
The Best of Blind Date
|
12 February 1994
|
Wedding & Best of the Rest
|
31 December 1994
|
10th Anniversary Show
|
13 September 1997
|
Blind Date Exclusive
|
21 March 1998
|
Blind Date Classics
|
20 June 1999
|
Blind Date Wedding 1998
|
|
Revival
[
edit
]
Series
[
edit
]
Series
|
Start date
|
End date
|
Episodes
|
1
|
17 June 2017
|
23 December 2017
|
7
|
2
|
30 December 2017
|
3 February 2018
|
6
|
3
|
16 June 2018
|
18 August 2018
|
10
|
22 December 2018
|
29 December 2018
|
4
|
7 April 2019
|
19 May 2019
|
10
|
2 June 2019
|
16 June 2019
|
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]