Blind Date (British game show)

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.

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. The final episode in May 2003 was seen by 2.9 million viewers.[11]

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.

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.

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[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.