Blue Therapy star reveals how Netflix series differs from other reality shows: "It's not posh, it's democratising therapy"

Blue Therapy is inviting audiences into the therapy room, as seven real-life couples navigate their relationship issues with expert Karen Doherty.

Across eight episodes, the couples will have sessions with Doherty as she puts each relationship under the microscope, forcing the partners to confront deep-rooted fears and life-altering secrets that won't remain buried.

But Blue Therapy wouldn't be the first therapy-based series to make its way to mainstream media, with Couples Therapy on the BBC and the likes of Married at First Sight UK and Australia on E4.

So what makes Blue Therapy so different? A key part of this series, even from its early iteration on YouTube, is that it's always seen Black couples at the centre, something important to the show's creator and Doherty alike.

Andy Amadi, who serves as showrunner on the Netflix series, previously said: "It was important for us to centre Black British couples in a way that feels layered and human. Too often those stories are simplified or stereotyped. This series shows love in conflict, but also in vulnerability, accountability and healing. That matters."

"We have another couple therapy show on TV on Channel 4, we have that, but this is so real and it's multicultural," Doherty told Radio Times. "It's not that classic white middle class access to therapy. These are real, universal themes that relationships are really battling with at the moment. And it's young, entrepreneurial kids, people of the moment."

Doherty notes the cast being "young and dynamic" as a strength, telling Radio Times: "It's not posh. It's democratising therapy. It's bringing therapy to everyone, and particularly to a multicultural/Black population that is not historically able to access these types of things. And that’s the message, really, that this is for everyone."

Each couple brings a different relationship struggle to Doherty, whether it be trust, finances or intimacy issues – something that plenty of couples in society will identify with.

"I think that is part of the appeal, is that actually everyone will identify with those themes and with what we dealt with," Doherty told Radio Times. "There was nothing too shocking, there was nothing too sordid, there was nothing too much. It wasn't sensationalist at all, and I think that really adds to the show."

Blue Therapy is available to watch on Netflix now. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media.

Add Blue Therapy to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.

Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.