We met on TV's Blind Date - we're still married after 34 years

Sue's friends submitted a letter without her knowledge, saying she would like to go on the biggest dating show on TV.

Alex was at work when a colleague came around holding papers in the air. Instead of auditing payroll, they spent the afternoon filling in application forms.

It is 40 years since TV juggernaut Blind Date first aired, and Sue and Alex Tatham were the first couple who met on the show to get married, in a ceremony broadcast to around 17 million people.

They both said they didn't go on the show looking for love, but love was what they found, and they have now been married for 34 years.

Handout

The couple recently celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary

After Blind Date came a string of modern dating shows following a similar concept, including Love is Blind, First Dates and even Love Island.

Now, Blind Date is set for a relaunch on Disney+, "reimagined for a contemporary audience" according to the streaming site.

So, how successful can a blind date be?

'Was it as glamorous as it looked? No!'

ITV/ Shutterstock

Sue and Alex meet for the first time on Blind Date

In 1985, Cilla Black hosted a pilot episode of a shiny new show inspired by a concept from America known as "The Dating Game".

It went on to dominate Saturday-night TV, with millions of viewers tuning in to watch one person pick a date from three suitors hidden behind a screen.

When Sue appeared on Blind Date, finding a boyfriend was not her priority.

"It was because it was all so new - the birth of reality TV," she said. "It was exciting and that's why I really wanted to go, to see how it all was. Was it as glamorous as it looked? No!"

Alex said Blind Date was "a very hot TV show at the time. So it'd be a bit like now, if someone's saying, who wants to be on Love Island?"

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'An amazing thing': Couple recalls moment they met on TV's Blind Date

Around six months after applying, Sue and Alex were called in for auditions - Sue in Birmingham, Alex in London.

"They asked me questions like 'If you were a fruit, what would you be?" Sue remembered. "What sort of animal would you be?"

Both Alex and Sue were given a slot to appear on the show, but Alex could not make it. Sue had her slot rescheduled too.

Sue said she spent the day with the other two girls Alex would choose from, getting to know them well - and that neither she nor Alex were allowed to have friends in the audience in case they influenced their decisions.

She also recalled the team's efforts to make sure she and Alex did not bump into each other ahead of filming, which meant her diving into a cupboard if he was walking along the corridor.

"Great, I thought - it's a real surprise!"

'I had no idea why I picked Sue - it was just eenie meeny miny moe'

"It was a long old day, but exciting. And Cilla sort of wafted around a bit," said Sue.

"Coming to you in curlers, putting you at your ease," Alex added.

Sue and the other women Alex would pick from were given his questions in advance.

They wrote answers which were scanned and edited. "One of them – and it definitely wasn't me – the question was about going to Australia and she said, 'I'd like you to rub suntan lotion on the bits I can't reach'.

"And they said no, you can't say that - that was out! It just shows what a change perhaps in the attitudes of today," Sue said.

According to the Official Cilla Black website, British television watchdogs were initially worried about Blind Date's sexual connotations - but Cilla's involvement reassured them.

Alex remembered the "illusion of television" being shattered quickly when he saw the sliding door on the set, used to separate the chooser and the three suitors.

"The sliding door, which looks very chic – it's basically a bloke at the back pulling a bit of cardboard."