Having a quiet night in front of the telly over the weekend? Don't worry, we've got you covered with a returning classic and something a little different.

Saturday 15/07/17

Blind Date (Channel 5, 8pm)

Back when Blind Date launched in the 1980s, ITV bosses were apparently nervous that it would prove too risque for British audiences.

Cilla Black would later joke in interviews that LWT's head of entertainment Alan Boyd picked her as presenter because he thought she was the most sexless person on TV, although he later told The Guardian that was a bit of a misquote - he said that he chose her because he knew she wouldn't try to make the show sexy.

Luckily, the viewers took the show to their hearts. It ran for 18 series, coming to an end in 2003 when Black announced she was quitting during a live episode.

However, in these days of Naked Attraction - not to mention dating apps - there was a chance that the format would seem a little tame. But the ratings for the first episode in this relaunched series, which peaked at just over two million viewers, suggest that we haven't lost our affection for Blind Date.

Perhaps some of that is down to the presenter, Black's great friend Paul O'Grady. He admits to being nervous about taking over her role, telling the Radio Times: "It was a shock at first when I heard the music, and they said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome your host, Paul O'Grady'.

"I thought, 'This isn't right, it's so synonymous with Cilla, she should be here, not me.' I felt like I shouldn't be doing it. It was her show. But then I spoke to her sons and lots of people who knew her and they said, 'You have to do it, because she'd want you to do it for everyone.'"

And while Black made it look easy, he's admitted the format initially took a little getting used to: "There's a definite skill", he told the Radio Times. "Because you're not interviewing celebrities, like I used to. You're interviewing the public, so they're not as confident. You have to be easy on them. I don't send them up because they're sitting there on the stool, and the last thing they need is for me to devour them, so I'm very avuncular with them, I'm very kind."

But now he's into the swing of it, Blind Date has proved it can move with the times, bringing us the first LGBT episode last week to coincide with London's Pride Parade.

This week, the singletons hoping to pick out a potential partner, are 50-year-old Bournemouth Post Office manager Gary, who stands out from the crowd due to his loud shirts, and student Amy from Leeds, who admits the punters in the pub where she works have nicknamed her 'Dolly Daydream'.

O'Grady will also be catching up with last week's couples, but if they can hear wedding bells, they probably shouldn't count on the presenter joining them for the ceremony.

While Black was also keen for an opportunity to break out her hat for a Blind Date wedding, O'Grady says: ""I hate weddings. If any of them get married, I'm not going. You have to pay for a hotel, pose for photos and sit with millions of kids and drunks. I prefer a funeral"

Sunday 16/07/17

The Loch (ITV, 9pm)

Who is the Loch Ness monster?

That sounds like an odd question - unless you've been glued to The Loch during the past few weeks.

While many people have attempted to get to the bottom of what may have sparked the legend of Nessie, this drama has a real-life 'creature' to find - namely the serial killer who has been bumping off the locals.

"It's a great idea," says one of the show's stars, Gray O'Brien, of the premise. "Who is the Loch Ness monster? Not what or where is it, but who. So it becomes something completely different. It's very interesting. I have to say not one of us knew who the killer was until we got the final scripts, so absolutely everyone is a suspect."

Despite being born and bred in Glasgow and being something of an outdoorsman, O'Brien had never visited his nation's most famous lake, although other locations brought back fond childhood memories.

"When I was younger I used to climb a lot of munros - a munro is anything over 3,000 feet - so I knew the surrounding area quite well, but had never actually been to Loch Ness. We shot a lot in Glencoe, which I know well, including Glen Etive, where I camped almost every other weekend from the age of 15 or 16.

"Loch Ness was quite an eye-opener for me. I've never been a sailor or been in water a great deal. We spent several days filming on the loch. The amazing thing with that is the boat changes, it moves all the time with the swell, so it changes direction even when it's not going forward. And the light and cloud comes in, so each of those hills changes constantly. Just beautiful."

Unfortunately, the weather was far from stunning.

"We didn't have the best luck in the world with the weather," admits O'Brien. "Most of the time we were out there getting soaked. There were two or three days where all we could do was shoot rain, because that's all we had."

The actor plays Alan Redford, the boat-owning husband of police officer Annie, who has been at the heart of the serial killer investigation; Alan hasn't always been very supportive of her excitement over the career opportunity the case has given her.

This week, it's time for the last episode to air, and Annie, alongside Quigley, finds a clue that offers a surprising new lead.

Meanwhile, Albrighton is warned to stop his own private investigation, but decides to go it alone anyway, putting himself in grave danger.

Will there be a second series of The Loch? O'Brien isn't sure, but he would like to return to the area to film in the near future.

"Lots of things were filmed there last summer, and that appears to be continuing," he claims. "It's great. People love to look at that scenery. I think a new, big Scottish movie is long overdue after Braveheart and Rob Roy. They're over 20 years ago now. It's about time we had another blockbuster. As long as you can cope with the midges and the rain, it's no problem."