Blind Date returns with a brand new series and a new twist

Blind Date returns for a second series on Channel 5 this month.

After more than a decade off air, Blind Date first made its return to TV last year with a brand new host on a brand new home.

Paul O’Grady replaced the late Cilla Black on the show which debuted in the summer.

Series 2 will see a new twist, with show bosses keen to find everlasting love for the contestants.

Commissioning editor Sean Doyle told The Sun newspaper: “The only thing missing last year was love. I think personally the dates were a bit short.

“In series two we are trying to find love. The format is still in safe hands but it is slightly grubbier now.”

Although the show’s comeback has proved a hit, Paul previously admitted that he first said no when asked to front the revived series.

“When they asked me I said no, because it’s so firmly associated with Cilla,” he told the Daily Mirror newspaper. “Then I had a think and I had a mental image of her sitting on the couch with a glass of champagne, screaming with laughter.

“The producers said it felt like a natural progression and her son Robert said she’d be over the moon, so I said ‘Yeah, go on, I’ll do it’.”

The revived series has included same sex couples and OAPs as the show offers to find love for anyone who’s single.

“We’ve moved on now, haven’t we?” Paul explained. “I didn’t even have to fight for that, they were all for it.”

And Paul continued: “We’ve got the over-seventies, too. You name it, we’ve got it.

“We’ve gone big time for diversity because look at the world we live in, it’s as it should be.”

Meanwhile, Melanie Sykes will return in place of Graham Skidmore – affectionately known as ‘Our Graham’ – as the show’s voice over.

Blind Date 2018 will return to Channel 5 on Saturday, June 16.