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My Mum, Your Dad

ITVX

Contrary to what reality TV would have you believe, dating isn’t just a young person’s game. Enter My Mum, Your Dad, which sees single parents take their first tentative steps back into the dating world, overseen by their children.

It lacks the kind of competitive “grafting” and “snakery” we’ve come to expect from other dating shows. But that’s what makes it the perfect watch for those who, like these single parents, simply don’t have the time or energy for petty jealousies and relentless recouplings.

Lovesick

Netflix

Lovesick follows the romantic exploits of a group of friends in Glasgow. The inciting incident sees Dylan (Johnny Flynn, Stardust) diagnosed with chlamydia, meaning he needs to track down all his old sexual partners to let them know.

Each episode is devoted to a different ex-lover, with the story of their connection with Dylan told in flashback. Perfect for anyone playing the field, and bonus points for its title pre-Netflix acquisition, ‘Scrotal Recall’.

If you're in the honeymoon phase

Colin From Accounts

BBC iPlayer

One of the more memorable meet cutes of recent TV sees two Aussie singles brought together by a flash and the consequent running over of a stray dog.

Unsurprisingly, Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer, who created and star in the sitcom together, are married in real life. It’s hilariously evident in both their chemistry and writing that are particularly relatable for any couples who share a love language of sarcasm and mockery.

Feel Good

Netflix

Love is wonderful, except for when it turns you into a feral animal. No-one understands how a little crush can become full-blown obsession better than comedian Mae Martin, who created and starred in sitcom Feel Good.

Playing a fictionalised version of themselves, the intensity of Martin’s attraction to George (Charlotte Ritchie, Ghosts) is likened to drug addiction, from which the comic also struggles. This one is worth a watch for Martin’s line reading of “fit little squirrel” alone.

If you're starting to get cold feet

Cucumber

Prime Video

You’re probably familiar with Queer as Folk and It’s A Sin. In-between those two, though, sits another queer drama penned by Russell T Davies, the brilliant, if underrated Cucumber.

This 2015 series introduces us to Henry Best (Vincent Franklin, The Thick of It), a gay man settling comfortably into middle-age. A sudden separation from long-term boyfriend Lance (Cyril Nri, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story) makes life much more exciting for Henry, who, naturally, hates every minute of it.

Fleishman is in Trouble

Disney+

Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s adaptation of her witty and perceptive novel plays with your sympathies. At first you find yourself on the side of Toby Fleishman, Jesse Eisenberg’s harried, newly divorced dad whose ex-wife, Claire Danes’ Rachel, has dropped off the kids and gone AWOL. But all is not as it seems. 

Although we can’t promise that it will save your marriage, it does serve as a reminder to try and view everything from your partner’s perspective. But a warning that even the subplots may dishearten you: Toby’s best friend Libby (Lizzy Caplan) proves how even a pleasant suburban marriage can induce a midlife crisis.

If you're happy being single

High Fidelity

Disney+

In Hulu’s gender-flipped reprise of Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, Zoe Kravitz plays Rob, a record store owner who decides to ‘Desert Island Disk’ her top five heartbreaks.

This show premiered on Valentine’s Day 2020, with perfect timing. Rob pays visits to her exes with a level of unapologetic chaos and overthinking that is highly symptomatic of the early 2020s.

If you’ve decided it’s time to close some doors, give this a watch and remind yourself of why your exes are exes.

The Ultimatum 

Netflix

This reality show is based off the hazy premise that its hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey broke up for about four months before they got married. Allegedly seeing this as their secret to success, they now subject five long-term relationships to the same “formula” in a yearly “experiment” named The Ultimatum.

It boils down to unhappy couples cheating on each other in a controlled, filmed, environment and shouting at each other. After three weeks of sleeping in the same bed as someone else, the couples must decide whether they still want to get married. For a show in its third season, it has a shockingly low marital success rate. God, aren’t you happy you’re single?