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Blind Date (UK)

Blind Date
Blind Date.jpg
Current Blind Date title card (2017—)
Genre Dating game show
Presented by Cilla Black (1985–2003)
Paul O'Grady (2017–)
Voices of Graham Skidmore (1985–2002)
Tommy Sandhu (2002–03)
Melanie Sykes (2017–)
Theme music composer Laurie Holloway
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 18
No. of episodes 373 (inc. 10 specials)
Production
Location(s) The London Studios
Running time 45 minutes (1985–88)
50 minutes (1989–90)
60 minutes (1990–2003, 2017–)
Production company(s) LWT (1985–2003)
So Television and Stellify Media (2017–)
Distributor ITV Studios
Release
Original network ITV (1985–2003)
Channel 5 (2017–)
Picture format 4:3 (1985–2001)
16:9 (2001–03, 2017–)
Original release
  • First run: 30 November 1985 (1985-11-30) – 31 May 2003 (2003-05-31)
  • Second run: 17 June 2017 (2017-06-17) – Present
Chronology
Related shows Blind Date: Kiss & Tell
Love on a Saturday Night
Take Me Out
The Love Machine

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 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.

On 7 February 2017, it was reported that Blind Date would return in 2017 on Channel 5. The new series began airing on 17 June 2017 in its usual on Saturday night slot and is produced by So Television and Stellify Media, a firm part-owned by Sony Pictures Television.Paul O'Grady presents the revived series.Melanie Sykes was later confirmed as the new voice of the show, taking over the role most famously held by Graham Skidmore in the original series.

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 (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, and interviews with them about the date and about each other. Locations ranged from Bognor Regis or a date in an ice cream factory, to Anguilla or the Maldives.


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Wikipedia

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