Labour of love

Ever since she hoodwinked Cilla Black and found herself on Blind Date as a teenager, Amanda Holden has dreamt of hosting her own dating show.

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Three decades later that dream has come true.

"I had a boyfriend!" laughs Amanda as she recalls appearing on Blind Date aged 19 in 1990, despite her secret paramour. "I was all loved up!

"But I've always wanted to do a relationship show. It has always been the dream."

Now Amanda, 54, has joined forces with Celebs Go Dating star Paul C Brunson, 50, to bring fans a new Netflix series called Cheat: Unfinished Business. The show follows eight couples whose relationships were torn apart by cheating and who now want to face up to their past mistakes and see if they can move forwards together.

With all its lurid allegations of one-night stands and affairs, Cheat: Unfinished Business makes Blind Date look very tame indeed. And Amanda believes her show is all the better for it. "A dating show like Blind Date is fun," says Amanda. "You get to see people at the beginning, and it's all fun at the start of the relationship. This is much more interesting because there are two sides, and we are so quick to judge. But our show will demonstrate how your judgement might change throughout the process. It will be up and down and all over the place. There's fear, tears, love and heartache."

Amanda is no stranger to heartache - her marriage to Les Dennis, now 71, famously ended when she had an affair with Neil Morrissey, now 62, in 2000 while they were filming a show together.