Development, Caroline Flack era (2015–2019)
On 13 February 2015, it was confirmed that Love Island would be returning, and would be aired on ITV2. However this series would include members of the public rather than celebrities. On 18 April 2015, it was announced that Caroline Flack would be hosting the show. The series began airing on 7 June 2015, with a live special showing the new Islanders enter the villa. During the series, celebrity guests entered the villa including Calum Best who won the second and final series of the first iteration of Love Island in 2006. Mark Wright also appeared to DJ at contestant Lauren Richardson's 27th birthday party. The first series ended on 15 July 2015 and was won by Jess Hayes and Max Morley. In 2017, fourth-placed finalists Cally Jane Beech and Luis Morrison became the first couple from the show to have a baby together.
The second series was confirmed on 14 February 2016, and began airing on 30 May 2016. This series featured the first Islander to be removed from the villa. Malia Arkian only spent a matter of hours in the villa before she was removed from the series by the producers after an altercation with Kady McDermott. It also included a number of Islanders who decided to voluntarily leave the villa, the first being Rykard Jenkins.
Also during this series, Islander Zara Holland was stripped of her Miss Great Britain title due to her behaviour in the villa. The second series also included Sophie Gradon and Katie Salmon becoming the first same-sex couple on the show. The series was eventually won by Cara De La Hoyde and Nathan Massey on 11 July 2016. On 15 September 2018, the series runners-up Olivia Buckland and Alex Bowen married, becoming the first couple from Love Island to marry.
The third series was confirmed on 14 February 2017, and began airing on 5 June 2017. This series was the first series to include a second villa, which was brought into the series during a twist set to put the couples to the ultimate test. This series also featured dumped Islanders Mike Thalassitis and Sam Gowland returning to the villa after being voted back in by the public; a first for the show.
The series ended on 24 July 2017 and was won by Amber Davies and Kem Cetinay. During the final Aftersun episode of the series, which was presented live from outside the villa, it was announced that there would be a one-off reunion special airing on 30 July 2017 which included all of the Islanders from the series.
The fourth series began on 4 June 2018, and launched with a record 4,050,000 viewers making it the most watched multichannel TV programme since the 2012 Summer Olympics were broadcast on BBC Three, and the most watched ever on ITV2. The series included the reintroduction of "Casa Amor" following its success in the previous series. The series concluded on 30 July 2018 and was won by Dani Dyer and Jack Fincham, who received a record-breaking 79.66% of the final vote.
It was also confirmed that another one-off reunion special would air a week after the final. As the fourth series began, the Islanders experienced tragedy with the suicides of Gradon and her boyfriend Aaron Armstrong, as well as the suicide of Thalassitis months after the series concluded. After the latter's death, the programme announced that they would offer counselling to all contestants in hopes of preventing further suicides.
A fifth series was confirmed on 30 July 2018, which started broadcasting on 3 June 2019. The series increased upon the previous success of the fourth, gaining a record-breaking 4,700,000 viewers on TV sets and a further 1,400,000 viewers on other devices for the episode following Casa Amor, the most for any ITV2 broadcast. Furthermore, more than half of the viewers were in the 16 to 34 age bracket. The series concluded on 29 July 2019 and was won by Amber Gill and Greg O'Shea with a 48.82% share of the vote.
