While everyone continues to remark on the so-called golden age of drama on TV, a growing number of constructed factual shows have been quietly grabbing huge audiences and winning awards.
Fresh off the block, The Traitors – effectively a game of “wink murder” writ large in a spooky Scottish castle, with Claudia Winkleman presiding – won at the RTS Programme Awards and the British Press Guild Awards, as well as grabbing two Baftas.
Previously titled ‘The Romance Retreat’, the dating show sees single parents over 35 move into an English country home in an effort to find true love.
Each contestant has been nominated for the show by their grown-up children, who will have more of a role in their new dating lives than the parents originally thought…
For the tenth series, the Love Island villa has opened its doors to 10 hopeful singles as they aim to win £50,000 through public vote, and hopefully find love, and a PLT deal, along the way.
After entering the villa, the singles pair into couples and enjoy a few hours of happily partnered bliss before a new “bombshell” enters the villa to steal one half of a couple, leaving someone single. If the single islander isn’t chosen by anyone in the next recoupling, they will be dumped from the island.
I Kissed a Boy is aptly named, as all contestants will begin their journey by kissing their new partners upon their first meeting, without even exchanging words.
The 10 participants in the UK's first gay dating show have been paired up by self-proclaimed “fairy-godmother/cupid” and Australian pop icon Dannii Minogue. She says: "When dating fatigue sets in and you are tired of swiping right, or you have not had the opportunity to meet enough potential dates – Mama Minogue is here to help.”
Sixteen British civilians will enter the competition as equals but will soon be split into Rulers and Grafters. In a caricature of real-world power dynamics, the Grafters will complete a series of arduous activities, creating a prize fund that only the Rulers can win.
Whilst the Grafters inhabit a basement, the Rulers occupy a deluxe penthouse. The Rulers will have to encourage the Grafters to work harder for them, whilst also making choices that affect only the Grafters and not themselves.
After a two-year hiatus from Australia, the series is returning home and a new group of celebrities will be leaving their lives of luxury behind to spend three weeks in the Australian jungle.
Iconic presenting duo Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly will return to co-host and watch the celebrities battle it out to be crowned King or Queen of the jungle.
Here is the celebrity line-up for this year:
The celebrities won’t be facing terrifying bushtucker trials, but they will be dressed in the most bizarre and extravagant outfits - from a witchetty grub to a kangaroo.
The panel and viewers at home will need to try and guess who the famous faces are behind the costumes before they can scream: "I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!"
The panel will be comprised of Jonathan Ross, Rita Ora, Davina McCall and Mo Gilligan, plus special guest star panellists who will help crack the mystery of who is behind the mask.
I say this not simply to air my grievances but to recommend a defence against such snobbery. Pandora Sykes and Sirin Kale’s new 10-part podcast, Unreal: A Critical History of Reality TV, makes a thorough case for the genre’s cultural significance, without turning a blind eye to its shaky ethical foundations.
For decades, putting members of the public on screen was a win-win situation. From Blind Date to The Generation Game, from Survivor to Big Brother, there was always new fodder for the tabloids, huge audiences for advertisers – including that vital but hard to reach 16-24 demographic – and, for ordinary folk, the chance for a few dazzling moments to make their lives extraordinary.
Here are some of our favourite reality TV moments.
Come Dine With Me follows a group of strangers as they compete to be crowned the ultimate dinner party host, with each contestant creating their own version of the perfect dinner party, which will see them scored out of ten by each guest.
