“You can’t accuse the cast of being there for Instagram followers”

“We’re not used to seeing people on reality television in this age group. We’re used to seeing 20-somethings, I suppose, all the time,” says Nine executive producer John Walsh.

“We see them in MAFS, Love Island, The Bachelor.

“But we’re just not used to seeing older singles, 40 – 60 dating and seeing the struggles they have and the things they go through, trying to form a connection with somebody.”

Enter My Mum, Your Dad, a US-based dating format from Greg Daniels (King of the Hill, The Office, Parks & Recreation, Upload, Space Force) and daughter, Haley Daniels.

Kate Langbroek hosts the series filmed mid year in Dural, NSW, in which singles aged 40 -60 pursue romance secretly watched on by their adult children through surveillance cameras.

“It’s kind of a whole new world from a viewer’s point of view”

“Straight away, you’re seeing and hearing things that you don’t regularly see in Reality shows. You can’t accuse the cast of being there for Instagram followers. A 50 year old single fireman is not on there for to increase his Instagram reach. So it’s kind of a whole new world from a viewer’s point of view, watching people of this age going through the heartbreak sometimes and the joys of modern dating.”

The cast were assembled in part from parents putting themselves forward, but also nominated by their children in the hope they might have a second shot at romance.

The series twist is the children had no idea they would be spying via TV cameras in a separate ‘bunker’ and secretly affecting the dates through a series of their own challenges and eliminations. Instead they thought they were only expected to give interviews about their parents.

“That is a part of the format which is different to the American one. The Americans lost, I think, somebody about halfway through but we’ve actually formatted it, so there are regular departures through the course of the series,” he continues.

“They have challenges in the US one to manipulate the parents’ dates. But it’s not as consequential as they are in ours. So the winner of the first challenge gets to individually get to send a parent home.

“They win the challenge and hear pitches from the other kids on why their parents should stay, then send one home.

“It’s explained to the parents that this is done by the ‘Dating Consultants …who are their grown up children.”

“When influences or manipulations do happen, and someone is voted off, it’s explained to the parents that this is done by the ‘Dating Consultants …who are their grown up children.”

Amongst the cast are parents whose marriages have dissolved but whose children are keen to see them make a new connection.

“Kayla is a daughter, very bubbly, opinionated, young woman. She’s 26 and her dad is Shane. They have a very close relationship. They live together and work together. Kayla nominated Shane to be on the show,” Walsh explains.

“Something that struck me about the whole show is how invested the child of a single parent is, in seeing their parent happy. I think that’s something that really runs right through the show will be a surprise to people. Kayla & Shane are a really good example of that. Shane’s just a regular bloke … a regular looking guy with a regular sort of personality.

“But they have a great relationship.

“It’s a terrible story. She was 28. They’d only been married less than a year.”

“Petula is a psychic medium who lives in Karratha in Western Australia, a very remote mining town. Drhys is a tradie based in Perth, whose father died in a car accident when he was seven months old. It’s a terrible story. She was 28. They’d only been married less than a year. So he’s very protective of his mother.

“His investment in his mother’s happiness is really something to see. You see him quite teary at different times, talking his mother.

“Mel was married for 28 years, I think married her childhood sweetheart, but her husband cheated on her. She finally decided to put an end to the marriage. She’s never dated anybody else.

“As we like to say in the show, she really has her walls up and is very hesitant about diving back into the dating world. Her son Sam is a really fun personality and really encouraged her to do this. And this is a massive break from her comfort zone to come on a show like this.

“You really see her struggling with the idea of being able to trust somebody in a relationship.”

“You really see her struggling with the idea of being able to trust somebody in a relationship. As she tries to navigate her feelings and regain trust with men is again something you don’t normally see on TV.”

Screening over just 3 weeks, the show will culminate in ‘Blessing Ceremony’ in which the remaining couples will seek the approval of their children to proceed beyond the television experience (it isn’t clear how a disapproval would prevent further contact).

Walsh also says Kate Langbroek was the right choice as a mother with both humour and empathy.

“She’s like the ‘fun mum.’ The kids really respond to her because she’s got kids of a similar age,” he continues.

“She ends up being very relatable”

“There are scenes when she’s speaking heart to heart with the parents and also with the kids. So she ends up being very relatable. The show is funny and heartfelt, I suppose, that’s what we’re trying to achieve with it, and Kate’s able to do both those things. It’s really important the host is able to be empathetic.

“There are no sharply drawn villains. People talk about having a ‘villain edit’ -which doesn’t actually happen- but there’s nothing like that here.”

“The kids are the real surprise package of the of the show,” he adds.

My Mum, Your Dad screens 7:30pm Monday and Tuesday on Nine.