Channel 4 axes Married at First Sight UK after external welfare review

Channel 4 has confirmed that Married at First Sight UK will not be coming back, following an external review into how participants were looked after. The budget for the hit show will be “reinvested in new programming”.

A sixth series that was already being made will not be broadcast, and the planned spin-off, Second Married at First Sight, has been dropped.

The decision follows a BBC Panorama investigation shown earlier this year. In it, two former female cast members alleged they were raped during filming and a third described a non-consensual sexual act. The men concerned deny the allegations.

Two-part review

Channel 4 commissioned the external review in April after the allegations were put to it. The review had two strands.

The first, carried out by law firm Clyde & Co, looked at how Channel 4 dealt with the allegations. The second, led by Lorraine Heggessey, a former controller of BBC One, assessed the welfare protocols on MAFS UK.

The law firm found no breach of Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code. It did identify isolated cases where welfare procedures had not been fully followed, along with areas where Channel 4 and production company CPL could tighten safeguards.

Heggessey’s review judged the programme’s welfare protocols to be extensive and of a ‘high standard’. It concluded that it ‘would be reasonable to continue’ with future series if further safeguards and format changes were introduced.

‘Run its course’

Channel 4 chief executive Priya Dogra thanked the reviewers but said putting all of the recommendations in place would fundamentally alter the programme, which she believes has run its course after 10 years.

Dogra said: “I want to thank Lorraine Heggessey and Clyde & Co for their thorough and incisive work over the last few months. Welfare across all our programmes is a primary concern, so we welcome the review, its findings and recommendations.”

She added: “MAFS UK has been enjoyed by millions of viewers, made possible by the willingness of its contributors to embrace the social experiment at the heart of the show and the many talented people involved in its production. I am grateful to everyone at Channel 4 and CPL Productions who has worked on the show and want to thank them for their significant efforts to protect the welfare of contributors, something which was recognised in both reviews.”

“Whilst the review praised the welfare protocols in place and made no findings that Channel 4 breached the Ofcom Code or that the format is inherently unsafe, I have to consider when is the right time for Channel 4 to move on from a format,” Dogra said.

“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.”

She also said: “This review did not have the authority to adjudicate on the very serious allegations made by three women in the Panorama programme, but I would like to repeat that I am very sorry for the distress those women have clearly felt. I hope our actions – in swiftly commissioning the review and taking clear, decisive steps – demonstrate our commitment to the wellbeing of all contributors and our desire to relentlessly strengthen industry standards.”

Channel 4 plans to pass on the review’s lessons and recommendations on contributor welfare to other broadcasters. It wants the industry to work together to strengthen welfare protocols across reality TV and make progress across the sector.