Channel 4 has called time on Married at First Sight UK despite a pair of reviews concluding that the broadcaster and producer CPL had appropriate welfare protocols in place and that the show could continue with some adjustments.
C4 chief executive Priya Dogra said the move would free up a considerable budget for new commission as part of the broadcaster's ongoing 'creative renewal'.
A review team, led by former BBC1 controller Lorraine Heggessey, said that MAFS UK’s welfare protocols complied with the Ofcom Broadcasting Code and were “extensive, extremely thorough and of a high standard from which other productions in the industry have learnt”.
The Heggessey review concluded that, with enhancements to the existing contributor welfare framework and adjustments to the format, it would be “reasonable” to continue to produce future series.
Meanwhile, in an accompanying review, law firm Clyde & Co looked at 31,172 documents and 20 hours of broadcast and unbroadcast footage and interviewed contributors and individuals from C4 and CPL.
It concluded that there were “isolated incidents” in which the contributor welfare framework was not fully implemented and that C4 and CPL could have conducted a more structured longer-term review over multiple series.
It also made recommendations of where the welfare framework could be further strengthened, including greater separation of casting and welfare teams, added security and 'safe words' for contributors, and requiring the welfare team to wear a distinct uniform to help contributors more easily distinguish them from other crew members.
C4 said it will share the review’s learnings and recommendations on contributor welfare with other broadcasters and encourage the industry to work together to reinforce welfare protocols across reality TV and drive sector-wide progress.
The review did not have the authority to rule on allegations of rape and sexual assault made by three women against their on-screen partners in the show – all denied by the men - which featured in a BBC1 Panorama investigation that prompted C4's review.
Creative renewal
However, C4 chief executive Priya Dogra, who commissioned the review soon after joining the broadcaster, said the time had come to “move on” from the show.
“The recommendations are eminently sensible and feasible, but considering their wholesale implementation provoked fundamental questions about the editorial proposition of a show that, I believe, has now run its course over ten years.
“Channel 4 has always thrived on reinvention and this is a moment to kickstart a new era of creative renewal, using the considerable budget to find the next generation of distinctive and disruptive British television.”
The broadcaster will not air series six of MAFS UK, which was in production when Dogra commissioned the review, and has scrapped spin-off Second Married at First Sight, which had been paused in pre-production.
C4 has also said it will not broadcast any future international versions of the show.
The summary of findings and recommendations of external review can be found here
