Classic UK Dating Show Blind Date Returns Tomorrow Night

Classic TV dating show Blind Date returns to UK television tomorrow evening, its first full series since 2003.

Formerly presented by Cilla Black, the show ran for 18 seasons on Saturday nights on ITV from 1985 to 2003.

At the height of its popularity in the 1980s, the show received ratings of 18.2m.

And fourteen years later, the show will return to Channel 5 on Saturday 17th June, with Paul O’Grady as the new host.

Running on Channel 5 at 7pm, the series is six episodes long, and will appear on Demand 5 after it broadcasts.

Speaking about presenting the show after Cilla Black’s death in 2015, O’Grady said: “I thought ‘This isn’t right, it’s so synonymous with Cilla, she should be here, not me.’

“I felt like I shouldn’t be doing it. It was her show. But then I spoke to her sons and lots of people who knew her and they said ‘You have to do it, because she’d want you to do it for everyone.’”

As ever with popular dating shows on UK and US television, such as First Dates, the show opens a marketing opportunity for dating brands to tap into any social media interest around the live broadcasts.

Find out more about the show here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rygGe3xg_DI