Set and match: the best and worst TV dating shows

Take Me Out: do you likee? Photograph: ITV

It was “Blind Date with knobs on” or, if you prefer, “Blind Date in a brothel”. Either way, it’s fair to say that Channel 4’s new love-match series Naked Attraction was not entirely to everybody’s tastes.

Certainly there was no escaping the full-frontal nudity on the Anna Richardson show, which made BBC2’s period drama romp Versailles look like a particularly dull episode of Midsomer Murders. And 1.4 million viewers lapped it up on Monday night.

But was it a new low for TV dating shows? It’s tricky to say. Here are a few of the more memorable series – although not always for the right reasons.

Dating in the Dark

A bit like Blind Date, but all the dates took place in the dark. Only at the end, when the lights come on, do you get to see who you’ve been hanging out with. A bit like The Voice, then, but without the spinning chairs.

It’s like dating. But it’s in the dark

Blind Date

Talking of Blind Date ... This was really, really good, but it went on for a really, really, long time. If only they had called time at the top. Oh for that age of innocence.

Surprise, surprise?

Sexy Beasts

Utter madness. This BBC3 show was basically a regular dating show, except the people taking part were transformed using prosthetic makeup into animals or mythical creatures before they hooked up. A light entertainment take on that Channel 4 documentary Animal Passions.

She’s an animal! No, she really is an animal

Take Me Out

The closest ITV has come to a successor to Blind Date – but unlike its predecessor, no one above the age of 40 has ever seen it. It features 30 women, one man, presenter Paddy McGuinness and a “love lift”. You’ve already clicked on the ITV Hub, haven’t you?

“And it’s got a love lift”. I’ll take 26 episodes!

Man O Man

The show that Take Me Out could have been – or perhaps that should be the other way round. Chris Tarrant presided over yet another ITV Saturday teatime dating show; this one rather short-lived. Look closely and you’ll spot Nell McAndrew. Don’t look too closely though.

Phone a friend. Ask them how they hell I ended up on this show.

First Dates

Back to reality, and a Channel 4 show that proves the best formats are often the most simple – a blind date followed by a debrief where the couple discuss their relationship prospects. What, no animal prosthetics? But I wanted to be a badger!