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Channel 5 to revive Blind Date

So Television to produce (February 2017)

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WH
Whataday Founding member
Quote:
Hit television show Blind Date is set to make a comeback.

The popular show was launched in 1985 and was hosted by the late Cilla Black for 18 years on ITV.

It sensationally came to an end in 2003 after the TV and movie star announced she intended to quit the programme live on air.

The show will be produced by So Television - which also makes the Graham Norton show for the BBC - and will return to screens later this year on Channel 5.

"Blind Date is the original dating show and it's huge news to bring it back", a source told the Press Association.

They added: "It's a classic format that will be rebooted to make it young, sexy and modern. Expect sparks to fly.

"In an age of Tinder, you have got to earn the right to love on this show."


http://www.itv.com/news/2017-02-07/blind-date-set-to-return-after-13-years-off-air/

This could work for Channel 5. Interesting production company too, although being owned by ITV puts it in a good position to revive the LWT version rather than only licence the US format.
LL
London Lite Founding member
I expect it'll be tweaked to be more like a downmarket MTV show if anything. I remember LWT trying to yoof it up at the end as well.
WH
Whataday Founding member
That's the usual expectation when it comes to Channel 5, using the same Big Brother clique of talent.

BUT what could make a lot of difference is So Television. They don't really have much of a record in terms of this sort of programming outside of their Norton-fronted work so hard to tell.

They might go down the Cilla route of an older host to act as a solid pair of hands. Just a thought - Channel 5 have recently added Jane McDonald as a 'face'.

So Television produced The Sarah Millican Television Programme and she would be an inspired choice, but I'm not sure if she'd be seen dead on Channel 5.
JO
Jon
Whataday posted:
So Television produced The Sarah Millican Television Programme and she would be an inspired choice, but I'm not sure if she'd be seen dead on Channel 5.

And if they were going to do down that route I'd rather see Cilla host.
GO
gottago
This is actually a co-pro between So and Belfast-based Stellify which are owned by Sony who control the original format. Stellify made the disastrous Can't Touch This last year. ITV own the rights to the Blind Date name according to Broadcast so I expect that's the reason why So are on board. They tried to sell a version to TV3 in Ireland last year but it didn't go through.
WH
Whataday Founding member
I would imagine that ITV has a claim on any part of the UK format which differs to the original, although I might be wrong.
BR
Brekkie
Considering Vicky Pattison is the name being most linked with this I think we can see how much respect C5 have for this classic format.
AE
AlexEdohHD13
Whataday posted:
Quote:
Hit television show Blind Date is set to make a comeback.

The popular show was launched in 1985 and was hosted by the late Cilla Black for 18 years on ITV.

It sensationally came to an end in 2003 after the TV and movie star announced she intended to quit the programme live on air.

The show will be produced by So Television - which also makes the Graham Norton show for the BBC - and will return to screens later this year on Channel 5.

"Blind Date is the original dating show and it's huge news to bring it back", a source told the Press Association.

They added: "It's a classic format that will be rebooted to make it young, sexy and modern. Expect sparks to fly.

"In an age of Tinder, you have got to earn the right to love on this show."


http://www.itv.com/news/2017-02-07/blind-date-set-to-return-after-13-years-off-air/

This could work for Channel 5. Interesting production company too, although being owned by ITV puts it in a good position to revive the LWT version rather than only licence the US format.

Blind Date should be on ITV. (as it was originally ITV show).
TT
ttt
I'm not sure LWT ever paid Chuck Barris for the rights to this - I think the format was juuuuuust different enough to qualify as 'original' ('The Dating Game' lacked the holiday and following week return, and nearly always had one woman choosing between three men, before it went daft in the late 70s and started including men in drag and the like among the contenders).
SW
Steve Williams
ttt posted:
I'm not sure LWT ever paid Chuck Barris for the rights to this - I think the format was juuuuuust different enough to qualify as 'original' ('The Dating Game' lacked the holiday and following week return, and nearly always had one woman choosing between three men, before it went daft in the late 70s and started including men in drag and the like among the contenders).


Des O'Connor said in his autobiography that he saw The Dating Game on Australian telly and pitched it to Philip Jones at Thames as a brilliant format they should be doing (and he should be hosting), but Jones refused to do it because he was so worried about what might happen to the women on the dates. Des couldn't convince him, and then the next thing he heard LWT were doing it.
TT
ttt
Possible as the Aus version was on air a year before the UK and was an official adaptation. Although given the US original had been on-air since the mid-1960s, it's surprising it took so long.
DA
davidhorman
AlexEdohHD13 posted:

Blind Date should be on ITV. (as it was originally ITV show).


That's meaningless, particularly in today's independent-production landscape.

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