ITV dating show set for reboot 16 years after it was axed thanks to Jeremy Clarkson – and there's a huge format change
A much loved ITV dating show is set to return to our screens after 16 years - all thanks to Jeremy Clarkson and a successful Australian version.
Farmer Wants A Wife UK, which last aired in the 2000s, could soon be back on our screens. The show followed a group of unlucky-in-love landowners as they welcomed a city-living woman to their farm in the hope of finding lasting love.
The first series of FWAW aired on ITV in 2001, then a second series was picked up by Channel 5 in 2009 with Louise Redknapp as host. The show did not return for a third series.
But, there has been a boom of interest in agriculture, thanks to the success of shows such as Clarkson’s Farm and the Yorkshire Shepherdess, and it seems this has convinced TV bosses that the time is right to bring back the nature-based dating show.
Since the original FWAW aired the dating show genre has also boomed - with giants like Channel 4’s Married at First Sight, Netflix’s Love is Blind and ITV’s Love Island leading the way.
The UK version was where FWAW started, but now there’s an Australian version which has been hugely successful and is shown on British TV, on E4. Though the current series has been at the centre of controversy because one of the farmers was cut from the final edit of the show due to his behaviour towards women.
It’s also not the only dating show that ITV are said to be considering reviving. Back in March, I bought you the news that Holly Willoughby may host a reboot Blind Date.
A TV source told The Sun: “Farmer Wants A Wife was one of telly’s earlier dating shows before the likes of Love Island and Married at First Sight came along and created a whole new genre.
“Even though it only ran for two series, the UK version spawned as many as ten international versions - it’s massive in Australia, for example - and the BBC even had a go at their own version, Love In The Countryside with Sara Cox.
“But the time is thought to be right to revisit the UK farmers as interest in rural living has never been greater thanks to Jeremy Clarkson et al and after Covid many have rethought city life. It’s early days so a channel isn’t yet attached, nor a host, but everyone is very excited.”
Fremantle Media, which made the original two series, are said to be exploring the possibility of a reboot and have begun looking for both single farmers and city-dwellers looking for rural romance.
To bring the show up-to-date, bosses have hinted at changes to the original format and they say they’re open to “all genders, sexualities, ages and love interests.” They have also suggested applicants apply from “a vineyard in Kent” or might fancy “harvesting crops in the Cotswolds.”