‘We got more viewers than some royal weddings!’

What’s it like to share your big day with millions? From Blind Date to Married at First Sight, five decades of reality TV couples – all still together – relive the thrills with

1980s ‘I was given the nickname The Ram of Cardiff’

Marc and Karen Adams-Jones’s wedding in 1984 was the subject of Desmond Wilcox’s groundbreaking fly-on-the-wall series The Marriage.

They have been called the first reality TV couple. “I suppose we were trailblazers,” laughs Marc today. “We probably peaked too soon. A few years later, we might have made loads of money.”

It all began when Marc answered a newspaper ad asking for “June brides to be part of a documentary series”. There were 3,000 applicants and Cardiff couple Marc and Karen weren’t Wilcox’s first choice. “He was a traditionalist who didn’t approve of us already living together,” says Marc. “But the director persuaded him to meet us.” Karen adds: “We had dinner with Desmond and Esther [Rantzen, his wife]. He changed his mind and, mid-meal, asked if we’d do it. It was only then that we realised the series wasn’t about several couples, it was about one. Us.”

Cameras followed their hen and stag nights, complete with Marc vomiting into a pint glass, then their Copenhagen honeymoon and first year of married life. “Our wedding carried on pretty much as planned,” says Karen, “but with a few extras. They repaired the church clock, choir. The best thing was getting a professional recording of the day. Some of our friends and family have passed away since, so it’s lovely to have them captured on film.”

As the series progressed, a storyline emerged. Marc explains: “To inject drama, Desmond had an agenda which was ‘nice girl meets scumbag’. He nicknamed me The Ram of Cardiff because I’d had a lot of girlfriends before settling down.” Karen adds: “I was only 20, so he wanted to portray me as this innocent child-bride. What viewers didn’t realise was that I’d had a fair few boyfriends, too.”

The show’s theme song, Starting Together by Su Pollard, reached No 2 in the UK singles chart. The couple appeared on Terry Wogan’s chatshow and even had Spitting Image puppets. “One sketch had us in bed together,” recalls Karen. “Marc said, ‘How was that for you, dear?’ while smoking a cigarette, then Desmond popped up between us and went, ‘Can we do it again?’”

Tabloids gave the marriage six months but the couple have four grownup children and will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary in June. “Decades later,” says Marc, “some of my rugby mates still call me The Ram.”

“Mine sing Starting Together to me,” adds Karen. “But it was an experience and we’ve no regrets.”