The Blind Date Couple Who Got Married in Front of Millions

Sue’s friends sent a letter without her knowledge, saying she would like to appear on TV’s biggest dating show.

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

It’s been 40 years since TV giant Blind Date first aired, and Sue and Alex Tatham were the first couple to meet 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 what they found was love and they have now been married for 34 years.

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

Now, Blind Date is set for a re-release on Disney+, “reimagined for a contemporary audience” according to the streaming site.

So how successful can a blind date be?

In 1985, Cilla Black hosted a pilot episode of a brilliant new show inspired by an American concept known as “The Dating Game.”

It came to dominate Saturday night television, with millions of viewers tuning in to watch one person choose a date from three suitors hidden behind a screen.

When Sue appeared on Blind Date, finding a boyfriend wasn’t her priority.

“It was because everything was so new: the birth of reality TV,” he said. “It was exciting and that’s why I really wanted to go, to see what it was like. Was it as glamorous as it seemed? No!”

Alex said Blind Date was “a very popular TV show at the time. So it would be a bit like now, if someone said, who wants to be on Love Island?”

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

“They asked me questions like ‘If you were a fruit, what would you be?’ Sue remembered. “What kind of animal would you be?”

Both Alex and Sue were given a spot to appear on the show, but Alex was unable to attend. Sue also had her shift rescheduled.

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 crew’s efforts to make sure she and Alex didn’t trip before filming, which meant she would duck into a closet if he walked down the hallway.

“Great, I thought, that’s a real surprise!”

“It was a long day, but exciting. And Cilla was left a bit floundering,” Sue said.

“Coming at you with curlers, putting you at ease,” Alex added.

Sue and the other women Alex would choose from received their questions in advance.

They wrote responses that were scanned and edited. “One of them, and it definitely wasn’t me, had the question about going to Australia and said, ‘I’d like you to put suntan lotion on the parts I can’t reach.’

“And they said no, you can’t say that, that was out! It just shows what a change maybe in attitudes today,” Sue said.

According to Cilla Black’s official website, British television watchdogs were initially concerned about the sexual connotations of Blind Date, but were reassured by Cilla’s involvement.

Alex recalled that the “illusion of television” was quickly shattered when he saw the sliding door of the set, which separated the coach and the three suitors.

“The sliding door, which is very elegant looking, is basically a guy behind it pulling a piece of cardboard.”

“When I picked Sue, the West Midlands number two, I had no idea why I’d done it,” Alex said. “It was just eenie meeny miny moe.”

On the show, the newlywed couple chose their first date activity at random. Sue and Alex had a medieval banquet in Ireland. The couple said they were put up in hotels five miles away.

“At the end of the date, we said we’d like to go to a nightclub,” Sue said. “We got along very well.”

Only when they asked the production team, the answer was no, the date was over and they had to return to their separate hotels.

“I think these days they basically film you walking into the same room.” Alex said. “That just shows the big change in reality TV.”

If a couple seemed to get along well, Cilla would ask: “Do I need to buy a new hat?” Well, in Alex and Sue’s case, it did: a smart blue number.

“When we first said we were getting married, they were very calm,” Alex said, speaking of conversations with the Blind Date team. “They said, ‘Oh, we’d love to take a video of you leaving the church.'”

In the end, he said there were many television crews, police officers and thousands of people outside the church.

Sue and Alex got married in a special episode called ‘Blind Wedding of the Year’, broadcast on London Weekend Television.

“Imagine if you’re nervous about giving a best man or groom’s speech in front of 300 of your best friends,” Alex said. “Then imagine doing it in front of millions.

“It was an amazing day. It allowed us to invite almost everyone we knew to our wedding, which also helped.

“They wore the brightest clothes they could because you wanted your face to be on TV. It looked like a really good edition of Songs of Praise.”

“We discovered we had a lot in common,” Alex said. “I think that when you grow together, as any couple will, you will discover that you actually begin to share a set of values.

“Open honesty is best,” Sue said. “And be kind.”

“Once you have someone with a similar set of values, boyfriend or girlfriend, no matter how you know each other, it’s a very good foundation for any relationship,” Alex said.

“I think the love of family is a really important factor. The care of every part of the family and friends. The ambitions to move forward in life, the joy of going out and having a good time.

“She is sensitive and kind, a wonderful mother and yet extremely beautiful. In fact, most people fall in love with her, so it wasn’t difficult for me. I’m just lucky to have chosen her.

“To this day, we say we love each other very much, and we still do.”

Additional reporting by Kath Paddison