Why We’ll Miss Love Island’s Summer Series

Today, June 3rd, is the day that last year's summer series of Love Island came to our screens. Twelve months ago, 3.7 million people sat on their sofas to watch the first episode, meeting the new cast of young men and women who had flown to Majorca in search of love. We should be getting ready to do the same again this year but, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, Love Island has been postponed. The temporary cancellation of a reality TV show based on hot singles drinking fruit-infused water and avoiding the pool for fear of short-circuiting their microphones halfway through a key soundbite may not be the most important cloud in the sky at the moment, but the nation will miss it. Whether we choose to admit it or not.

Some won't need to be converted. Love Island has made stars of straight-talking alumni like Maura Higgins, Megan Barton Hanson, Amy Hart and Ovie Soko. Such fan favourites win the public over by showing their abs and hair extensions, yes, but also what lies beneath the surface. Like Big Brother in its heyday, the programme is at its best when the facade drops, when the gorgeous, Insta-perfect characters stop thinking about how they might look if they let down their guard, and allow someone new into their hearts. When it works - when a couple bonds, connect, have their first kiss - it makes truly moving television. When it doesn't - when one diverts their attention elsewhere, when rows turn to tears - it becomes an urgent, must-watch spectacle, making us remember the times where we have lost love, been humiliated, and built ourselves back up again. After all, we all backed Amber to win the 2019 summer series with Greg, after Michael had dumped her to re-couple with Joanna.

The nature of the programme - the lack of clocks within the villa, a refusal to allow communication with the outside world - fans the flames. At home, some may wonder how anyone could be so devastated to say goodbye to a man they met six days ago, or declare 'I was coming back here to tell you I love you'. But time is different in the Love Island villa. Remember Freshers' Week, when you met a whole new group of mates and pledged your lifelong fealty by day three? It's the same thing. The emotions are real. They're just forged in artificial circumstances.

It is an undeniable sensation. Morning meetings are dominated by the night before's goings on (see last series 'breakfast club'). Phrases and slogans enter the lexicon within hours. Clothing sites push out the outfits seen on screen. It's no wonder ITV have introduced a winter series. For a few weeks, the country is united in something real. Something that is, in the grand scheme of things, relatively unimportant, but on reflection is more important than anything: the pursuit of connection, of companionship and of love.

Some people - the kind who proudly proclaim that they have never seen the show, that they are glad it won't return this summer, that they are glad to be spared what they consider the vapid ramblings of a crowd of twenty-something horn dogs - may be pleased that they won't be subjected to such talk for a while. It's not for everyone. But those who snobbishly refuse to acknowledge its merits as a phenomenon are ignoring something profound. Love Island speaks to something special: that TV is a bonding experience, even if watched alone. It brings us together. Whether we are hosting viewing parties for royal weddings, screaming at our sets at the £1,000,000 question, or screaming at a World Cup Final penalty shout-out, TV is wholly social.

Love Island will return. It is too lucrative a franchise to abandon indefinitely. ITV will find a way to get it back on its screens as soon as possible. But it is unfortunate that a programme that has proved more bonding that an address from the Prime Minister has faded from the TV listings at a time when, arguably, it is more needed than ever.

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