WHEN Renee Zellwegger’s character in the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire looked wistfully at Tom Cruise’s pleading face and declared ‘You had me at hello’ the line implied delightful romantic enchantment.

However, on today’s television reality shows such as Love Island, competitors are bringing an almost literal meaning to the phrase.

This suggests not only a real worry about where television is going at the moment, but rather where it’s taking us, which is to Hell in a handcart - because TV is setting the morality line.

Yes, television has been serving us up increased amounts of moral ambiguity in recent years, in the likes of Breaking Bad, BBC’s dark, sex comedy Fleabag and comedy-drama White Gold (the ‘C’ word sprinkled like vinegar on a drunk’s fish supper).

But that’s fiction. Reality TV is the real deal. Now, before accusations of sounding like the illegitimate son of Mary Whitehouse (yes, an oxymoron) abound, look at the recent evidence in which ITV2’s Love Island couples, (who all look like pole dancers or gym instructors) are manipulated into sexual game play.

In the early days of Big Brother congress was a possibility, now it’s a hoped for inevitability. But the danger is the 4.2m audience (with its young demographic) assume it’s perfectly fine to go on national telly, have sex and pick up 50k prize money.

One of the Love Island contestant’s mothers declared herself proud of her daughter who’d had TV sex on the box. What? There was a day when mother’s declared pride only at school prize giving when the Charlotte Bronte book token was handed over. Or perhaps at her wedding when she looked like Emma Watson as Beauty.

Now, pride is bestowed for bedding a bloke whom she’s known less time than it took for her last bikini wax. What a way to get a lumber.

Does television influence behaviour? You bet. That’s why TV advertising is so successful. And although Ofcom can’t respond to complaints because of post-watershed screenings and warnings, that doesn’t negate TV’s responsibility.

But what really crosses the morality line is the hypocrisy of some television producers. Sex Box failed (all too obvious) but Channel Four’s Naked Attraction, the programme which asks singletons to choose on the basis of liking someone’s bits, lives on. It claims to be a celebration of the naked form. In reality, it’s national undressing dressed up as sociological study.

The programme argues the point of going direct to the end game, which is getting naked. But why? The point of dating is the discovery, to let the imagination run. And what’s wrong with clothes? Would Annie Hall ever have captured Alvy Singer’s attention had she not worn her kooky outfits? Would Debra Winger have rode off on Richard Gere’s bike if he hadn’t been wearing his Officer gear?

Television will argue it’s satisfying the demand of the consumer, rather than cynically dictating it. But if public executions were televised the viewing figures would be enormous. You can’t always give the public what they want.

Television will argue dating shows are hugely popular, and that’s certainly true. And the likes of Love Island reflect current social mores rather than influencing them.

But there’s a still a market for nice Blind Date (although Paul O’Grady seems past it) and the fluffy Paddy McGuinness-fronted Take Me Out.

Dating shows don’t have to feature full sex. Channel Four also offer up the often delicious restaurant-set First Dates, where couples – regardless of age, sex or persuasion - meet and simply talk and discover. As it should be.

You could debate all day whether or not the contestants of Love Island are being exploited; they’re up for their fifteen minutes of fame and the possible 50 grand cheque. But there’s little doubt the viewers are being used.

This TV construct in which young people take their clothes off and copulate, underlines a serious erosion of quality and a scary tone.

Theatre in Glasgow this week features the Railway Children, which contains a the pivotal scene in which teenage Bobbie rips off her bloomers to warn the train driver of disaster ahead. Had it been set in modern times Bobbie would be wearing a G-string.

Now, there may be readers who think this is the writing of an older scribe bemoaning the fact he’s not part of a generation that trades sex like sweeties. And they well may be right.

But would you wish your daughter to take part?

You may suggest immorality debates are better focused on wider issues; the way Grenfell residents have been treated, the bankers who created the recession. An American president who gropes women?

But let’s not forget television has the power to re-tune moral values, or at least blur the lines. And if TV shows become borderline pornography, producers can’t complain if they’re considered to be pimps.