E4 renews its vows with Married at First Sight UK

1 February 2022

E4 RENEWS ITS VOWS WITH MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT UK

• Brand new and bigger series to land on E4 in 2022
   
• The 2022 series will run for 30 episodes – more than any MAFS UK series before
   
• Channel 4 and CPL Productions have agreed a multi-series deal for MAFS UK
   
• The first series of MAFS UK averaged 2.4 million viewers an episode across 28 days of linear and online viewing and was E4’s highest rating non-scripted programme ever.
   
• Married at First Sight UK was the third most streamed series on All 4 in 2021

Following a record-breaking run last Autumn, Married at First Sight UK will be heading back down the aisle for a brand new and bigger series, launching in 2022 as part of a multi-series deal between E4 and CPL Productions, a Red Arrow Studios company.

The new series will once again follow a fresh batch of singles, whose search for love and a happy-ever-after will lead them to saying “I do” to a complete stranger, whom they’ll meet for the first time on their wedding day.  With a longer run (30 episodes), the forthcoming series promises to be bigger and more dramatic than ever before!

Married at First Sight UK was All 4’s third most streamed series of 2021 and alongside Married at First Sight Australia, MAFS was the biggest programme of the year for the streaming platform. The first series of MAFS UK averaged 2.4 million viewers an episode across 28 days of linear and online viewing and was E4’s highest rating non-scripted programme ever. The show consistently pulled in the largest share of young viewers watching any TV channel from 9-10pm and the highest share of 16-34-year olds of any Married at First Sight (UK & AUS) series on E4 and on Channel 4.

Returning to bring their expertise to the matching process will be experts Mel Schilling, Paul C. Brunson and Charlene Douglas.  In the 2021 series of MAFS UK, the expert panel had an impressive success rate.  Couples Dan & Matt and Adam & Tayah have gone from strength to strength, outside the process, and continue to build on their relationships in the real world.

Adam and Tayah said: “What can we say other than thank you to Mel, Paul and Charlene for helping us find each other. We don’t know how they did it, but we’re so grateful that they did. The MAFS experience was a once in a lifetime opportunity and not a day goes by where we aren’t thankful for what we have gained from the process and the life-long friends we have made along the way. We’ve now settled in Doncaster and are living our happily-ever-after with our dog, River!”

Dan and Matt said: “It was such an amazing experience to appear on the latest series of MAFS UK and to be representing the LGBTQ+ community on a dating show with this sort of impact. We went in not knowing what to expect from the process, other than we’d be marrying a stranger. The experts truly worked their magic.  We fell in love thanks to the process and are still together now, happier than ever before. We would heartily encourage anyone who is single and willing to take on something life-changing to apply for MAFS UK – it’s worth all the drama!”

Karl Warner, Head of Youth and Digital said: “After a phenomenal first series that had the country bingeing and talking about it in their millions, I’m thrilled we’re extending the Married At First Sight UK brand even further, firmly rooting it at the heart of our plans to establish E4 as a Reality and Factual powerhouse. Married at First Sight UK is the real deal when it comes to finding love and with our expert match makers on hand, we’re back searching the country to try to create more love-matches. It’s an intense, roller coaster format that bursts with emotion in every scene - bring on the first dinner party!”

Commissioning Editor, Lee McMurray said: “I’m extremely proud of the success of MAFS UK and of the team behind it - both at CPL and Channel 4.  Having made such a successful transition to E4 and becoming the channel’s biggest ever unscripted hit, I’m looking forward to what we hope will be a bigger, bolder and even more popular second series.”

Murray Boland, Creative Director at CPL Productions said: “It’s a testament to the hard work of so many wonderfully talented people that MAFS UK was the massive success that it was for E4. We are all hugely excited to start work on the brand-new series, as a fresh group of singles go on their search for that elusive happy ever after.”

Casting is now open for the next series of MAFS UK and applications can be made here: https://shortaudition.com/MAFSUK2

Married at First Sight UK will return to E4 in 2022. Further details will be revealed in the coming months. 

Married at First Sight UK is produced by CPL Productions and Exec Produced by Rachel Viner, Susy Price, Dermot Caulfield, Murray Boland and Danielle Lux. It was commissioned by Channel 4 Factual Entertainment Commissioning Editor, Lee McMurray, and Channel 4 Head of Youth and Digital, Karl Warner.

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About CPL Productions

CPL Productions, a Red Arrow Studios company, is one of the most successful independent TV, radio and podcast production companies in the UK. An impressive roster of hit shows includes Sky Arts recent BAFTA-winning spoken word series Life & Rhymes; Sky One’s long-running and double BAFTA-winning series A League of Their Own, the US version Game On! for CBS, and spin-off series’ A League of Their Own: European Road Trips, US Road Trips and London to Loch Ness; There’s Something About Movies and Rob and Romesh Vs for Sky One; Sky One comedy The Reluctant Landlord, written by and starring Romesh Ranganathan; comedy quiz show Quizness, hosted by Tom Allen,  multi-award winning Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds, The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes and Married At First Sight - all for Channel 4 and E4; children’s game show Don’t Unleash the Beast for CITV and BFI; scripted series Brief Encounters for ITV;  High Strangeness the sci-fi comedy drama for Audible; You Are What you Eat the new reboot of the hit series for Channel 5; and with Harry Hill and their NIT Television joint venture, Alien Fun Capsule for ITV, Harry Hill’s Clubnite and Reasons to be Cheerful with Matt Lucas for Channel 4,  entertainment series Harry Hill’s World of TV for BBC Two,  new comedy sketch show Ellie & Natasia for BBC Three and Britain’s Greatest Obsessions  the new factual entertainment series for A+E Networks UK for Sky History  due to premiere in mid-2022.  The company has production partnerships with Ranga Bee Productions, Licklemor Productions and Tiny House Productions.  CPL also has a long history of producing award-winning audio content, including numerous productions for BBC Radio Two and Four.

www.cplproductions.co.uk