Matt was 38 years old and still a virgin when he found love with Maria, 28, on a dating app. Sarah, also 38, felt her chances of having a family were slipping away until she fell for Jgoy, 27, after spotting his photo on Instagram. And 17-year-old Jay met his long-term girlfriend Veena, 26, in an online Game Of Thrones role-play group.

Heartwarming stories yes, but there’s a catch. Although all of these people have fallen head over heels for each other, none of the couples has actually met. 

Their relationships are so long-distance that they’ve not yet been able to kiss or even hold hands. Matt, Sarah and Jay are based here in Britain, while Maria and Jgoy live in the Philippines and Veena is in India.

They are just some of the couples in The Nevermets, Channel 4’s new six-part series narrated by Dawn French that explores the growing trend of online relationships. 

Cameras follow the Brits as they travel to meet their partners for the very first time, and discover if their romance will survive a face-to-face meeting.

Matt, from the UK, and Maria, from the Philippines (pictured), met on Tinder two years and eight months ago 

‘The trend started around 2020, when Tinder launched “global mode”,’ says the show’s executive producer Melissa Brown. 

‘It meant rather than just look for someone within a three-mile radius, you could search around the world. Tinder said it was in response to demands from Gen Z daters.’ Generation Z encompasses those born between the late 1990s and the early Noughties.

It’s ironic that Matt, a factory supervisor from Warrington, Cheshire, who’d never travelled further than Manchester before, fell in love with a Filipina woman. 

Maria is his first girlfriend. ‘I was very shy, very quiet, not good at speaking to girls, obviously,’ says Matt, 38, who lives with his parents. ‘I thought chatting to women online would be easier first, before meeting them.’

He forgot to set geographical limits on his dating app that would’ve restricted him to people close to home, and when Maria popped up on his screen the two started chatting. 

‘She was just so genuine, and because I was so shy she seemed to accept me,’ says Matt. ‘I saw that I could develop myself and become more confident through this.’

Matt and Maria spent all their free time together on video chat, often keeping the camera rolling while sleeping. Two years and eight months on, Matt’s flying to the Philippines to meet Maria with an engagement ring in his pocket.

Their online relationship is typical of many. ‘They know what the other had for breakfast, what time they went to sleep,’ says Emily Smith, creative director at production company Wall To Wall. 

Pictured: Brit Jay, 17, met his long-term girlfriend Veena, 26, who lives in India, in an online Game Of Thrones role-play group

Sarah, a catering assistant from Berkshire, had been dating Filipino Jgoy, a 27-year-old digital worker, for two-and-a-half years online, but when they meet in Jgoy’s home country she doesn’t feel any chemistry

‘It’s like they know each other better than people dating someone a few Tube stops away. But for some, whether to meet or not was a big question because it might change their relationship.’

When they do meet, the scenes are often very moving. Maria flings herself at Matt as he gets off the bus in her hometown. 

‘When I first saw him I was stuck for a second because he’s so tall and handsome and I’m small,’ explains Maria. ‘I was crying tears of joy when I hugged him. On that day I knew he was the one for me.’

Other meetings are less successful. Sarah, a catering assistant from Berkshire, had been dating Jgoy, a 27-year-old digital worker, for two-and-a-half years online. But when they meet in the Philippines she doesn’t feel any chemistry. ‘I’m not really enjoying it,’ she says. ‘He seems to be different in real life.’

Experiencing a foreign culture can further strain a relationship. When Jay flies from Somerset to Kerala, India, he’s welcomed by Veena’s entire extended family, whose expectations that the pair will marry pile even more pressure on the teen. But it only deepened Veena’s love for Jay. 

‘He’d never moved out of his parents’ house, he’d never travelled, yet he did all this in one week,’ she says. ‘That’s when I felt, “He’s the one.”’

The couples are committed and their stories treated with respect. ‘We had a duty of care that’s watertight,’ says Melissa Brown. ‘We got Jay’s parents on board.’ And because Jay is under India’s legal age of consent, which is 18, he and Veena were not allowed to explore the physical side of their relationship when they met.

Whether these relationships flourish or fizzle out remains to be seen. But for Matt at least, meeting Maria has jolted him out of his comfort zone. 

‘I feel like I’ve woken up and I want to change my situation,’ he says. ‘But if that hadn’t happened I wouldn’t have met Maria. Everything has brought me to this point.’

• The Nevermets, Friday, 10pm, Ch4.

FIVE dating shows you really should make a date with 

Love Is Blind (Netflix)

Real-life married couple Nick and Vanessa Lachey (pictured) are the hosts of Netflix’s Love Is Blind

Dating apps can feel superficial, so this hit US show appeals to those looking for something more meaningful. Hopefuls hold intimate conversations in pods without seeing each other. Will they fall in love based just on personality? It’s hosted by real-life married couple Nick and Vanessa Lachey.

Indian Matchmaking (Netflix)

Sima Taparia (pictured) from Mumbai, India, takes a no-nonsense approach to arranged marriage in Indian Matchmaking 

Fed up with modern dating, youngsters try to get hitched the old-fashioned way – via a matchmaker. Enter Sima Taparia from Mumbai, India, whose no-nonsense approach to arranged marriage

has made

her a global phenomenon.

My Mum, Your Dad (ITVX)

Davina McCall (pictured) hosts My Mum, Your Dad, a dating show aimed at the over-40s

Billed as a Love Island for the over-40s, this show, hosted by Davina McCall, recognises that older people want to find love too. Eight single parents (one hadn’t been on a date for 37 years!) move into a country house to look for a partner – but they’re unaware their grown-up kids are watching everything.

Married At First Sight UK (Channel 4)

Relationship experts match brave singles, who get ‘married’ without ever having met until their wedding day. Cameras follow the newlyweds as they go through courtship in reverse – living together and meeting the parents before they decide whether or not to stay together.

Twin Love (Amazon Prime Video)

US show Twin Love splits ten sets of identical twins into separate houses to see if the same twins fall for matching partners

This glossy and addictive ‘social experiment’, set in the US, splits ten sets of identical twins – some for the first time ever – into two separate houses. Will the same twins fall for matching partners? Or will being apart from their siblings allow them to chart more individual paths towards love?