Davina McCall hosts this dating experiment where eight single parents move into Viola House, a 45-acre West Sussex pile, unaware their adult children are spying from a nearby bunker and pulling the romantic strings. Each child nominated their own parent, then veto or green-light potential partners in real time, turning filial embarrassment into prime-time sport.
The format, cooked up by father-daughter team Greg and Haley Daniels after the 2022 HBO Max original, trades bikinis and booze for divorce papers and school-run logistics. The soundtrack leans hard on nostalgic bangers: The Police, Whitney Houston, Hall & Oates series one; Cyndi Lauper, Genesis, John Farnham series two, all chosen to remind viewers these daters once danced to these songs the first time round.
Critics split: Anita Singh praised McCall’s warmth; Fiona Sturges accused producers of treating forty-somethings like "helpless geriatrics"; Lucy Mangan found the result "hilarious" and "excruciating"; Carol Midgley threatened to eat her own liver before letting her kids watch her flirt, yet admitted the show’s "endearing vulnerability" gives it a heart Love Island lacks. Two series aired on ITV1 and ITVX before the network shelved it in January 2025, though international versions continue multiplying from Sweden to Brazil.
Production Details
ITV1 / 2 Seasons / 20 Episodes / 2023 - Present
Cinematography: Siggi Rosen-Rawlings
Main Cast
Davina McCall as Self - Presenter
