Blind Date (British game show)

Blind Date
2018 Title card
GenreDating game show
Presented byCilla Black (1985–2003)
Paul O'Grady (2017–2019)
Voices ofGraham Skidmore (1985–2002)
Tommy Sandhu (2002–2003)
Melanie Sykes (2017–2019)
Theme music composerLaurie Holloway
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series22
No. of episodes416 (inc. 9 specials) (list of episodes)
Production
Production locationsThe London Studios (1985–2003, 2017–2018)
Television Centre (2018)
The Maidstone Studios (2019)
Running time45 minutes (1985–1988)
50 minutes (1989–1990)
60 minutes (1990–2003, 2017–2019)
Production companiesLWT (1985–2003)
So Television, Olga TV and Stellify Media (2017–2019)
Original release
NetworkITV
Release30 November 1985 (1985-11-30) –
31 May 2003 (2003-05-31)
NetworkChannel 5
Release17 June 2017 (2017-06-17) –
16 June 2019 (2019-06-16)
Related
Blind Date: Kiss & Tell
Love on a Saturday Night
Take Me Out
The Love Machine
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

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]

  1. ^ Jennings, Luke (6 March 1994). "Independent on Sunday, 6 March 1994". The Independent. London. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
  2. ^ "Blind Date making TV return – but who will replace Cilla Black?". 7 February 2017.
  3. ^ Laurence Mozafari (16 March 2017). "Paul O'Grady confirmed as Blind Date's new host on Channel 5". Digital Spy. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  4. ^ "Melanie Sykes to join Channel 5's Blind Date". Channel 5. 4 April 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017.