Love Island has, like, tapped into psyche that’s part of culture

I’LL hold my hands up right now — I’m about to write a piece on a TV show even though I’ve never watched a full episode.

But I feel compelled to — watch it that is, and also write about it, given it dominates airtime and newspaper column inches at every turn.

Love Island — two words that have much of the nation hooked.

A bunch of singletons on an island living in luxury, with cameras rolling 24 hours a day to capture the kisses, cuddles, other behaviour suited to its post-watershed slot and the inevitable fall-outs.

Grannies who roll their eyes at a format that “sounds like tripe” begrudgingly give it a go and wham, bam, they’ve got it on Sky series link and won’t leave the house when it’s on.

Mums watch it with their daughters and gossip about the latest goings-on the next day at work and school.

I say I haven’t watched a full episode but that doesn’t mean I don’t know exactly what’s happening.

On one radio station, I listened to the presenter play clips of contestants demonstrating their tenuous grasp of the English language.

There were phrases such as: “What is even going on, is it mate?”

And then there were sentences with more likes than Barack Obama’s Facebook page — I give you: “Like, I still like him, but like, I like someone else. And now I’m like couples with this other guy I think I, like, like.”

In summary, Love Island is a celebration of beautiful people — often cosmetically enhanced — often with a poor grasp of grammar, prepared to share the most intimate of “romantic” moments with an audience of millions. So far, so not very inspirational. But while I rarely feel compelled to go with the crowd and — for instance — get hooked to series such as Mad Men or Breaking Bad (I’m sure they’re very good but is there anything more dull than being in a conversation about them with fanatics?) just because everyone else is, perhaps Love Island is different?

It has tapped into a psyche that is part of our culture in the here and now.

It’s all very well being bah humbug about it but there comes a point when if you don’t join them, you get left behind in knowing what life is really like — even if only for a small percentage of young people.

And so, with a face set to grimace and slightly heavy heart, I’m pressing that series link now.