The Marriage Ref

The Marriage Ref is cancelled

ITV1 has got a divorce from Dermot O'Leary's new show The Marriage Ref after just one series.

Saturday night... The Marriage Ref. Last of the sizzling series. A landmark in television history. Will it come back? No.

But another rare chance to catch ubiquitous guest Sarah Millican and her dreaded Geordie wit. Which used to be quite funny... until she started appearing on every show in town.

"I can't believe you got divorced," gasped witless host Dermot O'Leary. I can. And I'm guessing Sarah's husband saw far too much of her. Like the rest of us.

Similarly over-exposed panel game favourite Micky Flanagan sighed: "I don't know why I'm here." Because Jimmy Carr and Jack Dee weren't around... and it was your turn on the rota. Same old faces... same old jokes.

As always, the ­contestants all loved each other deeply. But had some meaningless minor moan.

A dead show walking right from the start, this pointless pap was so ­stunningly dull it was shunted to a late night timeslot. Due to total lack of interest.

Marriage Ref couldn't be saved by Jack Dee & Jimmy Carr

What an appalling concept the programme has at its core. Unfortunately, there is absolutely nothing compelling about this series.

The Marriage Ref is perplexingly bad. Couples arrive with a problem that is either banal (she won't tidy her room) or manufactured (he won't stop doing magic tricks), Jimmy Carr and Jack Dee try to be funny and Katherine Kelly makes inane side-chat, having signed one of those standard TV contracts in which a woman is required to be exactly as boring as her male counterpart is funny. Dermot O'Leary I can understand, he has the clean features for such mid-evening blather, Carr has always struck me as a man who would sell an organ if the price was right, but Dee? How broke can he be? Is he trying to set up an orphanage? What's going on?

The Marriage Ref: celebrities judge boring problems

The Marriage Ref plods on as even Dermot O'Leary now seems to find the format faintly ridiculous.

Dermot O'Leary's 'Marriage Ref' sinks under 2m

Dermot O'Leary's ITV gameshow The Marriage Ref sunk to abysmal ratings on Saturday night.

The Marriage Ref was too dreary for primetime

The Marriage Ref appointed Jimmy Carr, James Cordon and Lorraine Kelly as 'marriage refs' in a prizeless, pointless and punishing hour of television.

Here's witless host Dermot O'Leary talking up his instant disaster The Marriage Ref: "We know how to make television." Yeah, crap television.

While we're on the subject, last night's misleading episode was full of couples who weren't married. It's not like it's a brilliant name for a show. So call it something else.

ITV facing crisis as Marriage Ref sees ratings slump

ITV are facing a crisis after their three flagship weekend shows - The Marriage Ref, Penn & Teller: Fool Us and Popstar to Operastar - suffered a ratings drop.

TV review: The Marriage Ref ITV panel show

ITV have rolled out an all new Saturday night line up which includes two brand new shows. The first being the lovely Lee Mack's All Star Cast which is a bit like a comedians version of the heptathlon, it features Lee interviewing D list celebs and doing standup as well as hosting music, getting the audience involved and so on.