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Love Is Blind hosts Matt and Emma Willis reveal why they were hesitant to front the show for a second series

Love Is Blind hosts Matt and Emma Willis reveal why they were hesitant to front the show for a second series

Scottish Suna day ago
LOVE Is Blind UK's hosts Matt and Emma Willis have revealed why they were hesitant to front the show for another series.
The Netflix show - which follows singletons who hope to fall in love with their perfect partner without seeing them - returned last week for a second offering.
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Emma and Matt Willis have returned to host the show
Credit: PA
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The married couple have proved popular on the show
Credit: Netflix
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The pair have now revealed why they were 'scared' to do season 2 of Love Isl Blind UK
Credit: Netflix
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Love is Blind: UK returned last week to Netflix
Credit: Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2025
Back to host Love Is Blind UK are husband and wife presenting team, Matt and Emma.
However, they have now revealed they were unsure whether to return to present season 2 of the show.
Speaking on today's Heart Radio's breakfast show, Emma revealed why they were hesitant to sign up to the show again.
"We were really scared, weren't we?' the popular presenter said to he husband, who replied: 'We were, yeah.'
Continuing, Emma said: 'Like, really scared. Because season one was such a hit, and everybody loved it, and it kind of had a little bit of everything.
"Matt always says, 'It's like that difficult second album.'
"Like, is it ever going to be as good as the first? But I think it is as good as the first.
"It's just different. Like this one's, I think, a slightly slower burn, isn't it?
"The pods, I think, in comparison to last year, are much calmer. But then it all starts to go.'
Meanwhile, the new series was filmed last year and was Emma's first big project on screen since undergoing keyhole surgery to repair a hole in her heart.
Love Is Blind UK cast revealed
Before the show kicked off last week, the former Big Brother host said: 'It's really nice to be back.
"It was nice to have a little time off to recover and focus on what I needed to do. But now it's full steam ahead and back to work, which is nice.'
Continuing, she said: 'We filmed it straight after the reunion for series one so the characters from season one were so fresh. I was like, 'How are we ever going to match that?' '
Matt added: 'Watching it happen, being part of the show, you're just rooting for them.'
However, despite the trend for shows to have celebrity spin-offs, Emma doesn't think that could ever work here.
"You'd constantly be trying to guess who it was, wouldn't you?," she said.
'There'd be certain people that you'd absolutely know who it was. Imagine if Rylan was in there, or Alan Carr.
'You'd be like, 'That's f***ing Rylan!' '
New episodes of Love Is Blind UK drop every Wednesday on Netflix
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Hostage: 'Playing the Prime Minister 'changes your perception' of politics' says Suranne Jones
Hostage: 'Playing the Prime Minister 'changes your perception' of politics' says Suranne Jones

BBC News

timean hour ago

  • BBC News

Hostage: 'Playing the Prime Minister 'changes your perception' of politics' says Suranne Jones

Actress Suranne Jones has taken on the role of many women under immense pressure. In Doctor Foster she suspects her husband of having an affair, in Vigil she investigates a death on board a submarine, and in Gentleman Jack she develops a dangerous lesbian romance. But none of the roles are quite as pressured as her latest - playing a British prime minister whose husband is kidnapped. Hostage, Netflix's new political thriller, sees Jones' character, Abigail Dalton, build an uneasy alliance with French President Vivienne Toussaint - played by Julie Delpy - who is being blackmailed during a London two leaders work together in order to rescue the PM's husband, unmask the kidnapper and blackmailer, and bring those responsible to justice. 'Political with a small p' Given its themes of immigration, the funding of the NHS and public trust, audiences may be tempted to connect Hostage to today's headlines. 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While viewers quickly learn about Jones' character - a loving wife and mother who is idealistic about bettering the country - Delpy's character is more drawn out and our opinion of her changes throughout the show."We made sure not to play into the female politician stereotypes," Delpy say. "What I like is that these women actually have some things in common like they both want change and came into office hopeful." The Guardian describe Hostage as "quite unusual" in that it doesn't remind you of any other political thrillers. "It's a little biting but it's not House of Cards cynical, it has a breakneck pace but it's not 24, the dialogue is sharp but never played for laughs," Zoe Williams writes. 'Cost of being in power' To play Dalton convincingly, Jones, who also served as an executive producer on the show, says she really immersed herself in the reality of political life. She visited the House of Commons, spoke to the Speaker of the House and devoured books, podcasts and documentaries. "I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to research," she admits. "I was fascinated by not emulating anyone but by understanding a life I knew nothing about. And it's the cost of being in a powerful position in that way that really struck me."Charman also talks about the extraordinary amount of research that went into creating the show. I ask him whether Dalton or Toussaint were inspired by any real life politicians and he confesses that they are, but he won't say who. "We interviewed a lot of people and Suranne had incredible access to people who had been prime minister who talked about their time in office and the pressure on their family. But it was all agreed that they would speak about this as long as it could remain confidential," he says. Jones won't say which politicians inspired her character but says all of her previous characters are a part of her and she has "a boardroom of personalities" which feed into who she plays. She says all the research into what it's like to be a politician "changes your perception for sure" and makes you realise "the cost of being in a powerful position". One question the show raises is whether or not it's possible for a politician today to stick to their ideals once they come into office and while Jones is unsure, Charman is an optimist. "I wanted to explore how there can be decent people in politics who are fundamentally good but get pushed around," he says. He adds that it's not "inevitable" that people give up their ideals once in office, but "it's definitely tough to keep your morals". Above the thrills and drama of Hostage, Charman says the show explores "what it takes to be a good person in a system that doesn't always reward good people."Delpy is slightly more pessimistic and explains that given "politicians have to be heard, if you're too reasonable you won't be listened to as there's so much noise of both extremes"."If you have a moderate view you get lost in the noise as people are only listening to the loudest."

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Spectator Competition: Category error

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time3 hours ago

  • Spectator

Spectator Competition: Category error

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Hostage review: Political thriller sets bonkers bar high
Hostage review: Political thriller sets bonkers bar high

The Herald Scotland

time3 hours ago

  • The Herald Scotland

Hostage review: Political thriller sets bonkers bar high

*** Channel 4 was understandably delighted this week to acquire Sherlock creator Steven Moffat's Number 10, a drama set in what its makers dub 'the only terrace house in history with mice and a nuclear deterrent'. Let the record show, however, that Suranne Jones got there first with Hostage. There have been Downing Street thrillers before Netflix's latest, and there will be more after, starting with Moffat's, but Hostage sets the bonkers bar impressively high. Jones plays British Prime Minister Abigail Dalton. The Dalton government is beset by crises, chief among them a shortage of cancer drugs. To top it all, the PM's teenage daughter has been out on the town with mates, and the French president is coming round to tell Dalton off for being soft on migrants. Madame President is played, rather magnificently, by Julie Delpy, bona fide French cinema goddess/writer/director. What a hoot it is to see her character waft into Downing Street, a right-winger ready to do battle with Dalton's seemingly soppy liberal. But what do you know: fate has brought these two alpha women together for a reason, or reasons, that will emerge over five episodes. Created and written by Matt Charman (Bridge of Spies), it is almost impossible to say more about the plot of Hostage because the series relies so heavily on killer twists and handbrake turns. I'm convinced Netflix and the other streamers have secret labs somewhere churning out plot surprises, the crazier the better, and there are some doozies here. Best to consider the title a clue and take it from there. Read more: With all this high-octane mayhem going on, Hostage needs its ballast. Lending Jones and Delpy a hand are James Cosmo as the Prime Minister's dad (complete with a north of England accent to match his screen daughter), Lucian Msamati (Conclave, Gangs of London) as her chief of staff, and Ashley Thomas as her doctor husband. Jones and Delpy do most to smooth the rough edges, and there are a few. The Downing Street in Hostage has the smallest press pack I've ever seen. They look more like a bus queue than a posse of reporters. Some of the dialogue sounds like a beginner's guide to British politics. And if you want a drinking game, take a gulp for every time Dalton kicks her heels off to signal how fed up she is with keeping up appearances when her world is crumbling. Jones is an executive producer on Hostage. What a distance she's come since playing one of Steve McDonald's many wives in Coronation Street. Doctor Foster made her a small-screen A-lister, and from then on she had her pick of parts. Not everything has gone her way - HBO fell out of love with period drama Gentleman Jack - but the successes, including the Scotland-set police thriller Vigil - have kept coming. Now she's an industry player in her own right, her name enough to carry a series, nationally and internationally. Real-life Prime Ministers should watch and learn.

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