ITV has no interest in single women like me

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage. That’s not all, that’s not all, the woman’s got an ITV reality show. 

As it continues to expand its reality offering, it seems that the broadcaster has basically been singing this adapted nursery rhyme in brainstorming meetings since the noughties.

It all really began when the nation became invested in Katie Price and Peter Andre’s love story on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here. 

They understood it made business sense for the cameras to continue following them across seven different series as they wed and welcomed two children together. 

Then when they split, the TV channel continually found new muses. 

The Only Way Is Essex has been an excellent breeding ground. When it came along in 2010 the castmates seemed to be stuck in an endless cycle of ‘How are you?’ ‘Yeah I’m good thanks, you?’ with the only thing interrupting the repetition being someone having a baby or getting hitched, and getting their own show.

Sam Faiers (Mummy Diaries), Billie Shepherd (Family Diaries), Ferne McCann (First Time Mum then My Family and Me when Lorri Haines arrived on the scene), Georgia Kousoulou (Georgia and Tom Baby Steps), and Amy Childs (Twin Lives) have all been given their own spin-offs to cover proposals, weddings, and motherhood journeys. 

Outside of the Towie content factory, viewers have also been able to watch Olivia Attwood plan her wedding to footballer Bradley Dack (Olivia Meets Her Match), and Chloe Madeley navigating being a new mum to Bodhi (A Family Affair). 

A scroll of ITVX gives the impression that stars must remain part of an ensemble cast until they can get a ring and/or bump. 

And I for one am sick of it. 

Isn’t it enough that single households only get a 33% discount on council tax instead of 50%? If it’s not the government, it’s my Instagram feed, or the exclusion from friends’ double date nights trying to force me to couple up.

It’s unacceptable that a genre I’ve been loyal to – reality TV – is part of the problem, too. 

Plus, in 2024, it’s just not a good look. As the next generation sets fire to the norms, it’s no longer seen as a second choice, but a perfectly legit option, to take a different life path, and so reality TV needs to catch up.

Even if I turn the channel to escape the relentless nuclear family glow of ITV, they are not the only ones getting involved.

Everyone from Binky Felstead (Born in Chelsea, Channel 4) to Paris Hilton (Paris in Love, Peacock) and Charlotte Crosby (Charlotte in Sunderland, BBC) being given their own series to explore romance, motherhood, or both. 

And as a reality fan, of course there is definitely a place in the genre for this type of programming (I simply do not want to live in a world that doesn’t include Nelly Shepherd’s funniest moments compilations), but I can’t help but wonder if it’s time other avenues were explored more consistently.

Gemma Collins: Diva Forever and Ever, which saw the single star being a walking meme, was a good start, but it’s not enough. 

ITV have the perfect opportunity to ensure a wider spectrum of women’s stories are told with two of their biggest-hitters bowing out – Ferne said she’d made the ‘difficult decision’ to call it quits after seven years, and Billie Shepherd and her husband are also reportedly walking away after six years. 

It is understandable why family-based reality shows came into existence and continue to attract viewers. 

It’s relatable to many – around 82% of women have children by the end of their reproductive lives in the UK, while 31% of 20-39-year-old women were married in 2021. 

However, the number of women not taking the traditional marriage and 2.4 children route whether by choice, or circumstance, is continually rising and it’s about time they got represented more in this sphere. 

Billie and Ferne have unintentionally created space for something different and it would be a travesty if it weren’t utilised.

Women’s lives don’t only begin at ‘I do’, or ‘bundle of joy’ but reality TV can often make me feel that way. 

There is quite clearly so much more just waiting to be captured and not just as a side plot. 

Just imagine Megan Barton Hanson giving us real-world Samantha Jones energy, or perhaps Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu trying to bounce back after being ‘cancelled’. 

These two women are single, successful, and have huge followings. Why can’t we see them living their best unmarried, childless lives?

Molly-Mae Hague was rumoured to be signing an Amazon deal to cover the build-up to her nuptials, but she doesn’t need her now ex-boyfriend Tommy Fury. 

The increasing views on her YouTube channel, with 3.7million alone on her first video since the split from Tommy, prove she doesn’t need a man to capture our interest. 

A series of Molly-Mae exploring single life would be a powerful way to show that women’s lives are just as important when they are not ticking off the traditional milestones, and let’s be real – us single gals really need it. 

Single women are often accosted with ‘When you getting married then?’ by well-meaning but annoying family members.

I tend to politely sidestep them, but my real response is: ‘When are we going to have to stop justifying our existence?’ and, also perhaps, ‘When are we getting our reality shows?’

And so ITV could normalise the complicated and numerous routes we can take. 

Not only would it be helpful for women in similar positions to feel seen, but it would be a great reminder to all of us, about weddings and parenthood.

They aren’t the ITVBe all and end all.