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Strangers marrying on TV? It’s tacky, immoral...but I’m hooked: CLAUDIA CONNELL on last night's TV

Published: 19:57 EST, 9 July 2015 | Updated: 20:16 EST, 9 July 2015

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Married at First Sight (Channel 4)

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The Reverend Nick Devenish is so concerned about the state of modern marriage that he felt compelled to take action. Understandable, he is a man of the cloth after all.

Less understandable is that he believes the solution is to encourage singletons to marry complete strangers on national TV, then split up a few weeks later if they don’t click.

It was all part of the madness that was Married At First Sight (C4), one of the most talked about and controversial shows this year. In order to justify such a tacky and immoral stunt, the programme tried to claim that it was conducting some kind of scientific experiment.

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Emma and James were one of the couples who got married 'at first sight' for a new Channel 4 programme

The fact there are 15 million single people in the UK was used as proof that people can no longer be trusted to find their own mate. They even drafted in a panel of experts to try to give credence to it all.

As well as the dopey Reverend there was a social anthropologist, an evolutionary anthropologist and two psychologists. All agreed that marrying somebody you’ve never so much as had a cup of tea with was perfectly sensible.

After conducting a series of nonsense tests including measurement of facial symmetry (because two even eyebrows are what everyone looks for in a partner, don’t you know) and DNA analysis (there was a lot of spitting in beakers) the team declared: ‘We can predict who you will fall in love with better than you can.’

Needless to say there was no shortage of fame-hungry contestants putting themselves forward. The 1,500 applicants, all in their late 20s and early 30s, were eventually whittled down to three matched couples.

The hopefuls were shown nervously pacing at home, surrounded by friends and family, as they waited for the phone call that told them they’d been matched. From the squealing and clapping that followed you’d think they’d been picked for The X Factor.

Programme makers claim it is some sort of scientific experiment to justify one of the most talked about shows of the year, writes Claudia Connell

One of those couples quickly hit the buffers when bride-to-be Sam, 29, withdrew following family disapproval. That left Emma, an events organiser who will marry administrator James. On paper they were a 100 per cent match.

Also marrying will be Kate, a personal trainer, and Jason, a financial adviser — who did have something in common, the annoying habit of inflecting their voices to make every statement a question.

The first show ended with the couples picking their wedding outfits and debating whether or not they would sleep with their stranger of a spouse on the honeymoon.

It was tasteless, offensive car-crash TV, but that’s why people watch. It’s also why, as much as I hate myself for it, I can’t wait to watch next week to see if it all goes horribly wrong.

Married At First Sight's Lachlan joins Farmer Wants A Wife

Coast (BBC 2)

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There was cod science over on Coast (BBC2) as well, as presenter Nick Crane declared the seaside to be better for you after a stress monitor showed he was more relaxed on a deserted beach than he was riding his bike around Trafalgar Square. You don’t say.

Despite this daftness the, first episode of the new series was a delightful reminder of the former glory of our seaside resorts.

REHASH OF THE DAY

Anyone tuning in to the ‘new series’ of Grand Designs last night must have felt conned. It was just a mishmash of old footage with Kevin McCloud revisiting houses from previous shows. Where’s the fun in that? We want to have a good nose at new properties.

While cheap package deals abroad can be blamed for the demise of UK beach holidays, the royals were to thank for making them popular in the first place. In 1783, George IV visited Brighton and the masses quickly followed.

Doctors believed sea air and water could heal even the most deadly of diseases, leading to the opening of Margate Sea Bathing Hospital in the late 18th century.

Patients, including many with tuberculosis from the workhouses, were wheeled in their beds to the water’s edge and fully submerged in the icy North Sea for 15 minutes. The term kill or cure really did spring to mind. Yet hospital records showed nearly all showed an improvement.

Even more drastic treatment was given to those with osteoporosis who were placed in full body splints, 24 hours a day, for up to two years on open air wards.

Nick Crane’s enthusiasm for the seaside was infectious and it did make you long to feel the sand — and pebbles — between your toes.