IT SEEMS telly bosses feel it’s more the merrier when it comes to dating shows, as they line up a new series aiming to bring exes back together.
I can reveal ITV Studios are working on a series called Second Chance focussing on former flames relighting their fire.
It comes although the channel already has Love Island: All Stars on air and Love Island Games lined up for next month.
Bosses are now casting now for the new show, which will film in a sunny destination.
A call-out reads: “Want to win back your ex? Did you cheat and want a second chance?
“A major entertainment service is currently seeking singles who want to explore the possibility of rekindling a meaningful relationship.”
A TV insider added: “Exes are big businesses for reality bookers. They not only bring the possibility of romance, they almost always guarantee drama.
“Viewers have grown tired of the cheesy boy-meets-girl plot lines and exes spice things up.
“There’s a reason Ex On The Beach has lasted 13 seasons for MTV, to date.
“And All Stars has proven ITV’s Love Island viewers love a messy break-up, as producers continue to pile former squeezes in the villa.”
“Second Chance is not yet confirmed to run on ITV but they’ll have first refusal as it’s an ITV Studios property and is being made by the Love Island team at Lifted Entertainment.”
FROM the makers of Netflix hits The Tinder Swindler and Don’t F*** With Cats, a new Prime Video true-crime series will investigate a backpacking holiday gone wrong.
Dead In The Water, available from February 28, tells the story of junior doctor Chris Farmer and law graduate Peta Frampton, who travelled to Guatamala in the Seventies.
But after boarding the boat of a psychopathic serial killer, they were murdered and dumped at sea.
The three-part documentary tells how, after the case went cold, relatives spent decades chasing the killer . . . until a breakthrough.
Chris’s sister Penny said: “The last we heard from them, they got on a boat – it just didn’t make sense, and the truth was far worse than we ever could imagine.”
THE BBC will mark 80th anniversary of D-Day in June with a new documentary packed with survivors’ tales.
Other Beeb documentaries soon inlude Artemis: A Horizon Special, about Nasa’s moon landing, and explorer Ella Al-Shamahi tracing the history of the human race.
IT’S looking steamy for the two stars of new Netflix rom-com One Day.
Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall play Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew in the latest film version of David Nicholls’ same-named hit novel of 2009.
The story of a decades-long infatuation, which was also turned into a 2011 movie starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, sees the pair’s lives intertwine on the same day every year.
But despite scenes of both intimacy and comedy in the new remake, which streams from February 8, Ambika and Leo say it was hard to play the Emma and Dexter over such a long time span.
Emma said: “We were 22 in the morning, then we’d jump 20 years to the end, because we were shooting the final episode and the first three together. Navigating 20 years of change in 20 minutes was kind of difficult.”
Leo added: “We both knew going into it that we needed to lean on each other because it was going to be a tough shoot.
“It was a huge job, the biggest of both our careers at the time. It was a big moment, we needed each other.”
THE late Paul O’Grady’s replacement as host of For The Love Of Dogs has finally been revealed as This Morning star Alison Hammond.
The six-part series will tell the stories of the latest arrivals at London’s Battersea Dogs Home, as Alison gets stuck in with the volunteers and continues the work started by Paul who passed away last March.
Alison said: “I am very aware that I can never replace the iconic Paul in this wonderful series, but if I can continue to shine a light on the brilliant work done at Battersea, it will be an absolute privilege to give it my all.”
It’s a busy start to the year for Alison, who is also set to star in a sketch for Red Nose Day, alongside Davina McCall, Simon Cowell and Sir Lenny Henry.
For The Love Of Dogs is returning soon to ITV, and the BBC’s Red Nose Day airs on March 15.
