Banijay Entertainment is using Mipcom to test a timely format idea: can a romantasy layer make dating television feel less guarded?
The format
Date Knight, produced by Nordisk Film TV for Danish public broadcaster DR, places singles inside a fantasy world where first impressions are deliberately fictional. Contestants are reimagined as knights, elves, witches and warriors, and their early dates happen in character. The design skips conventional small talk in favour of grand balls, secret encounters and romantic quests.
The transition is the format’s dramatic engine. Guided by DR P3 radio host Jannik Schouw and couples therapist and anthropologist Julie Houe, participants gradually shed their personas and reveal their real selves. The core question is whether a connection formed through roleplay can survive once the costumes come off.
Nordisk Film TV CEO Ulrik Jørgensen positions the format as “a new kind of thoughtful dating,” arguing that it frees participants from the expectations that shape ordinary first impressions. Banijay’s chief content officer for development James Townley describes it as a response to the “powerful cultural trend of romantasy.”
Why it matters
Dating formats remain a high-volume business, but the production model is crowded. A launch like Date Knight is useful because it attempts to solve a known weakness: participants often perform for the camera, and the early episodes can feel repetitive. By making performance part of the premise, the show reframes the usual guardedness as a creative asset.
There is also a research angle. The format is built on the idea that roleplay can boost confidence, empathy and self-awareness. For commissioning editors, that is more than a costume twist; it provides a way to justify the show as a social experiment rather than a pure entertainment gamble.
DR P3 head Isabella Alonso De Vera Hindkjær called the show “escapist entertainment with real emotional authenticity,” which captures the buyer pitch: a broad entertainment canvas with a grounded emotional reveal.
The DR attachment is another signal. A public broadcaster has already shaped and ordered the original version, which gives international buyers a proof point. At Mipcom, the likely questions will focus on structure: how many episodes, what happens after the reveal, and whether the fantasy world can be produced economically in smaller markets.
That framing matters for buyers because dating formats often sell on personality or location. Date Knight is instead selling a psychological mechanic: participants are asked to be someone else before they can be themselves. If that mechanic produces distinctive emotional arcs, the format can travel more easily than a show built around a single host or a specific cultural setting.
What to watch
- Producer: Nordisk Film TV, part of Banijay Nordic
- Commissioner: Danish public broadcaster DR
- Guides: Jannik Schouw and Julie Houe
- Market debut: Mipcom 2026
- Banijay slate mates: 100 Knives, Last One Standing, Million Dollar Idea
Date Knight joins a Banijay Mipcom slate that also includes streamer-oriented titles such as Beat Luke Littler, Netflix, Will You Marry Me?, Simon Says, The Mob and Monopoly. The range shows how a large format group can address both traditional broadcasters and streaming buyers from the same catalogue.
For format teams, the takeaway is not that romantasy is the next dating trend. It is that a strong visual and cultural hook still needs a repeatable emotional structure. Date Knight has the hook. The market will now judge whether the reveal is strong enough to support a full series.
Source: Variety
