WHERE WERE YOU WHEN The Gold Blend couple declared their love - YOU Magazine Fashion Beauty Celebrity Health Life Relationships Horoscopes Food Interiors Travel Sign in Welcome!Log into your account Forgot your password? Password recovery Recover your password Search Sign in Welcome! Log into your account Forgot your password? Get help Password recovery Recover your password A password will be e-mailed to you. YOU Magazine Fashion Beauty Celebrity Health Life Relationships Horoscopes Food Interiors Travel Home Celebrity WHERE WERE YOU WHEN The Gold Blend couple declared their love By You Magazine - March 31, 2019 It was the finale of a slow-brew romance. Lucy Sweet looks back at the ad that enchanted the nation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vtYRyAUcnM Back in 1987, when nouvelle cuisine and large dangly earrings were at their zenith, two people embodied the kind of sophisticated London elite that those in the sticks could only dream of: the couple on the Gold Blend adverts. Before then, instant coffee ads featured the somewhat offputting spectacle of actor Gareth Hunt shaking some beans, so you have to understand that these guys were dynamite. Anthony Head, pre-Buffy the Vampire Slayer, played a suave art dealer, and the sultry Sharon Maughan his neighbour, who popped round to borrow a jar of Gold Blend for a dinner party, igniting a spark that could boil every kettle within a ten-mile radius. OK, so their relationship seemed entirely based on the procurement of instant coffee, but their sizzling sexual chemistry had the nation in its grip for a staggering six years, as this caffeinated soap opera slowly unfolded in 30-second chunks in between Coronation Street. The idea was that, far from being freeze-dried rubbish, Gold Blend was something you could pass off to your snooty friends as proper cafetière coffee. But that was soon eclipsed by the drama of their ‘will they, won’t they?’ relationship – which was far from smooth. There was jealousy (who could forget Italian love rival Marino Masé?) and a break-up, before 30 million tuned in to watch Anthony tell Sharon that he loved her while sitting by a roaring fire – one of Britain’s most-watched television moments. The Gold Blend relationship would go on to form the basis for bestselling book Love Over Gold (which promised to fill in all the background details) as well as a video compilation of the ads and two CDs. Best of all for Nestlé, by the time the campaign ended, sales of Gold Blend had shot up by 50 per cent. Also that month… Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their separation. Four people were injured by IRA bombs on London’s Oxford Street. Princess Anne married Tim Laurence, her second husband. Harry Connick Jr was caught with a 9mm handgun at New York’s JFK airport. BBC chiefs were on the hunt for the ‘royal mole’ who had leaked the Queen’s Christmas broadcast to The Sun. Whitney Houston scored a Christmas number one with ‘I Will Always Love You’. RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR 50 of the best celebrity Halloween costumes of all time Shirley Ballas ‘ Strictly gave me back my hope’ Davina McCall discusses how men can help women going through the menopause Popular in Celebrity Beauty vlogger Nic Chapman opens up about her diagnosis and troubled August 22, 2017 Quickfire with Strictly veteran Anton Du Beke December 5, 2017 Yolanda Kettle reveals what it’ s like playing the other woman February 12, 2018 The billion-dollar baby club The celebrity children living it large April 15, 2018 Tom and Giovanna Fletcher talk married life and working with your June 3, 2018 Jacqueline Gold ‘ I want to give women confidence’ July 15, 2018 Quickfire Comedian Alex Horne on Gary The Gorilla losing his trousers August 26, 2018 ‘ I’ m probably overindulgent with him’ Elizabeth Hurley reveals the most important September 30, 2018 One s best friends The Queen’ s corgis and their doggy dynasty October 28, 2018 Ruth Wilson will play her own grandmother in this new BBC November 21, 2018 Popular CategoriesFood2704Life2496Fashion2240Beauty1738Celebrity1261Interiors684 Sign up for YOUMail Thanks for subscribing Please check your email to confirm (If you don't see the email, check the spam box) Fashion Beauty Celebrity Life Food Privacy & Cookies T&C Copyright 2022 - YOU Magazine. All Rights Reserved