Anyone looking for love need look no further than the TV screen. Forget lonely hearts columns and dating agencies in a bid to find your soulmate.

It's a fact of life that TV has taken over as a prime method of locating Mr and Ms Right - a view reinforced by the debut of two new dating shows, Would Like To Meet on BBC2 and Perfect Match on Channel 4, this week.

Both take TV dating on a step from Blind Date with matchmaker Cilla Black and the innuendo-laden conversation of her courting couples.

Would Like To Meet gives dating hopefuls tips from a team of dating experts - Tracey Cox (specialist subject: body language), Jay Hunt (styling) and Steven Anderson (confidence and communication).

The experts on Perfect Match know the dating hopefuls very well as they're drawn from among the nearest and dearest - family, best friends and even exes - of the person seeking a mate. The relationship is taken a step further than usual with the "perfect partner" chosen by the panel moving in for up to three weeks to see how matters progress.

DIY SOS presenter Lowri Turner, who hosts Would Like To Meet, says: "This show really appealed to me because after doing makeover shows on homes, I wanted to try something similar on people.

"All of the people we followed were brave. Sometimes we found we had more of a problem with their friends and family when we tried to get them to alter themselves.

"We have had people, particularly women, whose friends told them that they look fantastic and should not change at all. So some of the friends and family were quite anti even though the people themselves wanted to ring the changes.

"There is one girl Sam, who is in her 30s and works in the film industry. All her friends said she should stay the same. But we took them out for a drink and, after a couple of glasses of wine, the men admitted they thought she was quite scary. They finally had the guts to tell the truth, which took some bottle."

Some contestants, like George, needed a good talking to in order to get through the love makeover. "We had to say some really harsh things to him," says Turner. "We had to change his single bed for a double, tell him to get rid of his Star Trek toys and point out that he should not be living with his mother.

"He was quite broken down by it all. He had been out with quite a few girls but his mother did not trust any of them. We did some really radical things with him but it was to try and give him his own sense of identity.

"George thought he was a real gentleman and then we showed him how he ate his meal on his dummy date and he was appalled. Then we advised him against wearing these horrible ties. So he rebelled against us and turned up wearing a matador's outfit."

But how many women would trust their mother to find them a mate? Jane Edwards, who features on the first Perfect Match, does just that. Mum Chris, best friend Mairie and relationship expert Jenni Trent Hughes are appointed to find her dream mate. Jane remains sceptical. "My mother's lovely, she's gorgeous, but I don't think she's got a clue".

l Would Like To Meet continues on BBC2 on Wednesday at 8pm. Perfect Match is on Channel 4 at 9pm on Tuesday and Wednesday.

S O what's the best programme for finding your perfect partner? We assess the methods and success rate.

BLIND DATE

THE introduction: Cilla Black welcomes three hopefuls and a date-seeking man/woman.

The foreplay: The contestants, hidden behind a screen, are asked three light-hearted questions each. Answers crammed with double entendres are obligatory. The winner is selected on the basis on those answers.

The date: The couple select an envelope containing the name of their destination. They could end up sunning themselves on a tropical island or learning to ballroom dance in Blackpool.

Is it true love?: The following week they return to tell Cilla how the date went, usually ending up criticising each other and demonstrating that this method of finding love is as hopeless as a used condom.

STREETMATE

THE introduction: Davina McCall walks the streets of a different city each week, attempting to pick up someone for the person seeking a date. Most passers-by treat her with the same contempt they would a market research person with a clipboard. (This can also be played on sunny beaches if the programme budget allows).

The foreplay: No much really. The hunt is the main part of the show. And it takes Davina so long to find willing participants, that they only have time for a quick shower and to change their clothes before the pairing off.

The date: Dinner in a restaurant.

Is it true love?: Davina returns a few weeks later to see how the relationship is progressing.

WOULD LIKE TO MEET

The introduction: A member of the public puts his/her love life in the hands of presenter Lowri Turner and her team of dating experts who coach them in body language, styling, and confidence and communication.

The foreplay: The experts observe the victim, sorry subject, on a "dummy date" to see how they behave and they tell them where they're going wrong. Then the experts pick a likely partner.

The date: No chance of anything untoward happening as the experts play peeping Tom to spy on the couple from a surveillance van.

Is it true love?: Viewers have to wait and see.

PERFECT MATCH

The introduction: Someone has a partner chosen for them by a panel consisting of family, best friends and exes. Six contenders chosen from 50 hopefuls are quizzed and their backgrounds researched for skeletons in the cupboard.

The foreplay: As above. The couple don't meet until the date.

The date: The "perfect match" turns up on the doorstep and moves in for up to three weeks. If they get along disastrously, the next preferred choice enters.

Is it true love?: Viewers can see how the relationship progresses, and if romance blossoms, in a second programme screened the day after the first.

GOD'S GIFT

The introduction: Davina McCall - replaced by Claudia Winkleman in the last series - chats up six lusty lads in front of a studio audience of baying, screaming, lusting women. (This game can also be adapted for gay people, several such editions were produced).

The foreplay: The men are given tasks such as showing how they'd chat up a woman in a supermarket or talk to her on a dinner date. In the final round, they have to strip to their underwear.

The date: A boozy night on the town.

Is it true love?: The couple return the following week to give their verdict, although many seemed to prefer getting drunk over any hanky-panky.