Holiday romance?
PICK OF THE DAY
CAST your minds back to 1989 when the rom-com Shirley Valentine became a box office hit. Pauline Collins starred as the middle-aged housewife who went on a journey of self-discovery and had a holiday romance in Greece.
Who would have thought that nearly 30 years on, it would inspire an ITV reality show?
This sees eight famous women, all single and at a crossroads in their lives, escaping to a Greek island to rediscover themselves and look for love.
Presenter and former glamour model Melinda Messenger, 47; former weather presenter Sian Lloyd, 59; TV personality Nancy Dell’Olio, 56; presenter Aggie MacKenzie, 62; comedian Ninia Benjamin, 50; TV personality Lizzie Cundy, 50; former model Annabel Giles, 58; and journalist Ingrid Tarrant, 63, all have to live together in the same house as well.
They are very different personalities – Aggie has brought her microfibre cleaning cloths, while Annabel has slippers and a hot water bottle and Nancy has several pairs of towering heels.
But all are happy to open up about their love lives and their hopes for the future.
Sian reveals: “I have no idea why my marriage didn’t last. I thought I was in a fairy tale.”
And Aggie confesses: “For 10 years I didn’t go out with anyone. But once I got back on the horse, I felt as if a rocket had gone off in my head. It’s a really good thing for women to enjoy sex in their 60s.”
This at first feels like a bizarre concept, but it’s actually a thoroughly entertaining show that will have you rooting for them from the start.