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CREAM teas and shortbread are an unusual recipe for love, but Cupid's arrow will be fired between Torquay to Tobermory in the latest prime-time reality TV show.
Eight men from Devon will journey north to "the rural, remote Highlands" to meet eight single women aged between 30 and 60, in what's tipped to be of the BBC's most talked about series of 2007.
When Love Comes To Town, due for transmission early next year, will find 16 single-tons guided in their romantic attachments by a matchmaker. The couples will travel between Devon and the Scottish Highlands for a range of one-on-one and group dates.
This latest dating show comes in the wake of reality television shows such as Big Brother, I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! and Love Island.
The launch also follows the release of details of the latest Castaway series, which returns to the BBC next year.
The original series of Castaway began broadcasting on BBC One in January 2000, six months before Big Brother first appeared on Channel 4. The series was a ratings hit, with viewing figures peaking at eight million. Thirty six people spent a year living on the Scottish island of Taransay, building their own shelters and fending for themselves.
This time the location will be on the other side of the world in New Zealand, in order to take the castaways even further from their current lives.
Castaway made a tourist attraction of Taransay, off the coast of Harris in the Outer Hebrides, when it formed the backdrop for the show.
And last night tourism chiefs voiced hopes that the Highlands and Islands would receive a similar cash injection from When Love Comes To Town.
The producer, Sallie Clement, who also produced hit TV show The Unteachables, is keeping the exact locations of the show under wraps until the New Year. She said: "We want there to be an element of surprise, but the location will be in the remote, rural Highlands.
"It will go out in eight parts, and will reflect a real mix of singletons aged 30 to 60.
"The premise of the show is a really good one. When we were pitching the idea we did it using the fact that I don't have a track record for manipulating people. This is about celebrating dynamic, charismatic characters and showing the positive aspects of being single.
"You couldn't get much further from other types of reality television programmes. Of course people will try to draw comparisons, but that wouldn't be right. It's no Love Island; there are no tricks. These aren't dysfunctional people: it's really heartwarming, inspiring, witty stuff."
Scott Armstrong, VisitScotland's area director for the Highlands, said he hoped the show would encourage tourism and bring prosperity.
"Television shows are a great draw for visitors, and with the stunning scenery and welcoming people we have here in the Highlands, the exposure we'll get through this new show is sure to put our area at the front of people's minds when they are thinking about their next break," he said.
"Castaway gave the Outer Hebrides fantastic exposure, and I would hope this new BBC show will do the same for our area." But some have voiced cynicism at the idea of yet another reality television show at a time when programme schedules seem to be saturated with them.
In November this year, ITV revealed that a third series of dating show Love Island would be axed after falling ratings. Its audience was about half the size of that for Big Brother this year, and although an average of 3.8 million people tuned in to watch the final, figures were still down from last year's top figure of 5.9 million.
Cameron Stout, winner of Big Brother 3 said: "There are enough people out there desperate enough to do anything to get on to television, that the idea of this show doesn't surprise me at all. That said, there are far too many things coming under the umbrella of reality television.
"So much of TV now is about downing people: smashing their dreams and putting them down. On a positive, there's something very special about the Highlands.
"It has enjoyed a romantic celebrity injection recently with Madonna and Guy Ritchie getting married up there and so it would doubtless hold some appeal for men from down south."
A spokeswoman for the relationship advisory service Relate said: "Research shows that many viewers take a lot from TV programmes dealing with relationship issues. We would hope that television programme makers have this position of trust in mind when planning their shows."
• The Scots cultural watchdog the Saltire Society has said it is poised to launch a campaign aimed at challenging and changing what is regards as the "dumbing down" of BBC Scotland output. Scotland on Sunday last week revealed concerns among the organisation's members over too much football and listener phone-ins and lightweight and frivolous presenters.
The BBC bites back
Last week Scotland on Sunday highlighted criticism of the BBC by the Saltire Society. Here Maggie Cunningham, the Joint Head of Programmes, BBC Scotland, responds.
It is our duty to offer something to all our licence payers, be they Saltire Society members, soap watchers, football fans or news addicts.
Should we take the concerns of dumbing down, parochialism and over emphasis on football and phone-ins seriously? Of course we should.
Should we ask ourselves: do those who say we lack gravitas and fail to reflect Scottish culture and heritage in our output have a valid point of view? Again, of course.
When, however, we reflect on these questions - and they're ones we ask ourselves regularly - we can only conclude that some Saltire Society representatives appear to have missed many of our programmes; output we believe has reflected our heritage and culture well, and which they would enjoy.
On Radio Scotland recently, we have had The Enlightenment series, How The Stone Came Home, In God We Trust and our monthly Investigation programme. We've even had a request from the Saltire Society for a copy of one of our programmes - The Gothenburg Mentality!
And just in case Tom Devine was taking a break from his regular media appearances and missed his own contributions - can I remind him about Scotland's History - the Top Ten, which proved popular with critics and audiences alike.
There is an abundance of content on Radio Scotland which reflects our national life. Travelling Folk, Traditional Roots and Welcome To Shettleston are just a few.
Mike Russell also levelled criticism at our supposed over-reliance on phone-ins and football. For the record, the time allocated to news phone-ins has been reduced following schedule changes and now amounts to just 40 minutes when Morning Extra debates a topical issue of the day raised in Good Morning Scotland.
Scotland Live also includes contributions from those making the news and our listeners, who value the chance to question those contributors, but it is not a stand-alone phone-in programme.
Should our national radio station encourage civic discussion and debate? Of course it should.
Football is our national game, embedded in our popular culture in Scotland, with every right to feature on our airwaves. Again we make no apology for bringing unrivalled coverage of it along with other sports such as shinty, golf, bowls, rugby, athletics and Scotland's cricket team.
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