Seven preps controversial format

Australia’s Seven Network revealed at its new-season launch this week that filming is underway on a “controversial new show that will be the most talked-about programme of 2017.”

Tim Worner

Tim Worner, CEO of the net’s parent company Seven West Media, screened a clip that showed parents objecting to the marriages of their offspring, raising issues of race and homosexuality.

Worner insisted he could not reveal the title because if the participants find out “the potential is there to blow the outcome of the whole thing.”

However, the format seems uncannily similar to Bride & Prejudice, which premiered on A+E Networks’ US channel FYI in March. Produced by Kinetic Content, the US show follows three star-crossed couples who desperately want to get married but whose family members do not approve of their unions.

The Australian broadcaster issued a casting call in June, seeking couples that are in diverse, multicultural or progressive relationships and “believe that against all odds they are destined for one another.”

Seven’s new line-up also includes second seasons of in-house productions Seven Year Switch, which looks at couples on the verge of separation who agree to live with a like-minded new partner in an experimental marriage, and UK fly-on-the-wall dating format First Dates.