DIY SOS

Last updated

DIY SOS
Also known as
  • DIY SOS (1999–2010)
  • DIY SOS The Big Build (2010–)
Presented by Nick Knowles
Lowri Turner
Brigid Calderhead
Kate McIntyre
StarringBrigid Calderhead
Deborah Drew
Julia Kendell
Charlie Luxton
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen
Oliver Heath
Hannah Huggins
Nina Campbell
Gabrielle Blackman
Naomi Cleaver
Narrated by Nick Knowles
Lowri Turner
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series32
No. of episodes243 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerRobi Dutta
ProducerHamish Summers
Running time30 minutes (DIY SOS)
60 minutes (The Big Build)
Production companies BBC Bristol (1999-2015)
BBC Studios Factual Entertainment Productions (2016-present)
Original release
Network BBC One
Release7 October 1999 (1999-10-07) –
present
Related
Changing Rooms

DIY SOS is a British DIY television series made for the BBC and presented by Nick Knowles, Lowri Turner, Kate McIntyre and Brigid Calderhead. The series was broadcast from 1999 to 2010 before its current format DIY SOS The Big Build from 2010, also presented by Nick Knowles. 242 episodes of DIY SOS and DIY SOS The Big Build have been broadcast over 32 series.

Contents

DIY SOS (1999–2010)

Launched in 1999, after audience figures showed interest in other home make-over shows such as Changing Rooms,DIY SOS was a weekly full builder and designer level renovation of a section of a viewer's home, taken on by a team of professionals after a viewer's DIY project had gone wrong and not been finished. It is the longest running show of its format having been shown for 21 years and has an active dedicated forum.

Launched with presenter Nick Knowles, the format consisted of a main project, and a small project initially headed by Lowri Turner (but after Turner left the show, a number of subsequent presenters were used for the smaller segment), and a viewer call-in vote format voting for one of three families who have made short video pitches for their projects to be addressed in the following programme.

An episode filmed in June 2009 was not broadcast after a domestic incident where a man held his wife hostage at gunpoint before shooting himself, the week before the intended broadcast. The episode is believed to have included the fitting of a new kitchen into the couple's semi-detached home. [1]

Personnel

Presenters

Designers

Crew

  • Julian Perryman - Builder (1999–2010)
  • Chris Frediani - Plasterer (1999-2010)
  • Mark Millar - Carpenter (2006–2010)
  • Billy Byrne - Electrician (1999-2010)
  • Ian Soo - Builder (1999–2006)
  • Dawn Bayley - Decorator (1999–2006)
  • Garfield Caven - Builder (1999–2006)
  • Steve Fallowfield - Builder (1999–2006)
  • Chris Young - Builder (1999–2006)
  • Kyle Dwnt - Builder (1999–2006)
  • Warren Furman - Builder (1999–2006)
  • Bob Grose - Builder (1999–2006)
  • Mat Skelton – Builder (2008–2010)
  • Genie - Fitted the chair lifts (2000–2010)
  • Herbie - Fed the cats (1999–2010)

Episodes

SeriesEpisodesStart dateEnd date
167 October 199918 November 1999
277 March 200025 April 2000
3918 October 200013 December 2000
4812 June 200131 July 2001
5831 January 200221 March 2002
6920 June 200229 August 2002
789 January 20036 March 2003
8810 July 200328 August 2003
9815 January 200410 March 2004
10619 May 200419 August 2004
11816 March 200511 May 2005
12828 July 200526 September 2005
13101 May 200617 July 2006
1488 November 20062 March 2007
15813 July 200719 November 2007
16727 June 200815 August 2008
17822 August 200810 October 2008
1869 April 200914 May 2009
19728 April 201016 June 2010

DIY SOS The Big Build (2010–present)

In 2010, following the success of a pilot under the same name, the show was reformatted into an hour-long series titled DIY SOS: The Big Build, where the team now enlists the help of local tradesmen, suppliers and the larger community to help deserving families. As the title suggests, the projects often involve "ambitious" construction work such as building a loft conversion or extension. In October 2015, The Big Build's "Veterans Village" special achieved a 34% audience share (with viewing figures of 9.6 million), the biggest in the series' history.

In June 2023, the BBC put the series up for tender as part of the company's "competitive tender" policy. [2]

Personnel

Presenters

Crew

  • Julian Perryman - Builder (2010–)
  • Chris Frediani - Plasterer (2010–)
  • Mark Millar - Carpenter (2010–2021) [3]
  • Billy Byrne - Electrician (2010–)
  • Mat Skelton – Builder (2010–2013)

Designers

During The Big Build, the following designers appear in an alternating recurring capacity.

Episodes

SeriesEpisodesStart dateEnd date
20215 April 20101 July 2010
21426 August 201026 January 2011
22613 April 201116 August 2011
231010 January 201215 October 2013
24622 October 201330 May 2014
25612 May 201421 October 2014
26918 December 201417 December 2015
271017 February 201629 March 2017
2868 June 201715 November 2017
2964 January 201817 January 2019
3073 April 201911 December 2019
31619 November 202017 May 2022
32510 May 202214 June 2022

Reception

Following the transition to the Big Build format, according to Stuart Heritage of The Guardian , the show is now a "big hitter", explaining that "Pound for pound [it] offers far more emotional heft than almost anything else on television". In its previous format, the show had, in his view, merely "burbled along pointlessly", lacking ambition or an emotional connection with viewers. [4]

Garden SOS (2003)

On 7 July 2003, the BBC announced a sister show to DIY SOS, to be called Garden SOS. Running for only one series, it was first broadcast on BBC One from 4 September to 21 October 2003. Using the same format as DIY SOS, it was to tackle gardens instead of houses. Described by a reviewer as a hybrid between DIY SOS and Ground Force , the show featured a red and blue team of experts sent to work on different projects.

It was presented by television presenter Andy Collins and garden designer Ann-Marie Powell. As with DIY SOS, viewers were given the chance via a telephone vote to select the projects in each subsequent episode. Reviewing the first episode for the Radio Times, David Butcher described the series as "all good fun", but lacking in gardening related content, and suggested this was one garden makeover series too many in an increasingly saturated market. There were six episodes in total.

No.BroadcastEpisode description
1.14 September 2003 [5] Repair a botched attempt to join two gardens into one in Lancaster and rescue a garden in Enfield with a hole where a patio was planned
1.211 September 2003 [6] Finish a garden project, started but abandoned by a gym enthusiast
1.318 September 2003 [7] Repair a garden in Surrey, left in a mess after the owners had swapped houses with their daughter
1.425 September 2003 [8] Finish Wendy and Nigel's attempt to create a vegetable garden in Tuxford, Nottinghamshire
1.52 October 2003 [9] Resolve the conflicts between couple Liz and Ian caused by their garden
1.69 October 2003 [10] Regenerate the garden of Raffles Community Centre in Carlisle

International editions

The format was sold to RTÉ in Ireland in 2019, with episodes to be presented by Baz Ashmawy expected to air in 2020. [11]

Controversy

In May 2021, it was reported that Nick Knowles was holding crisis talks with the BBC regarding his job as the main host of DIY SOS due to his appearance in a Shreddies TV advert, which violated BBC's commercial agreements and guidelines. [12] A week later, the BBC announced that they have resolved the issue and Knowles will return to his DIY SOS role with filming to resume in the coming months and he was expected to be back on screens in 2022. [13]

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References

  1. ↑ "DIY SOS participant found dead in Watford home". BBC. 24 May 2010. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  2. ↑ "DIY SOS and See Hear to be put out to competitive tender". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  3. ↑ @MrNickKnowles (10 April 2022). "@dr_screener @CBFA2020 Sadly he moved on to other things & we all wish him the best of luck @Bonjourmillar came to…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  4. ↑ Heritage, Stuart (28 August 2014). "DIY SOS is back is this the most emotional show on TV". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  5. ↑ "Garden SOS - BBC One London - 4 September 2003 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 4 September 2003. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  6. ↑ "Garden SOS - BBC One London - 11 September 2003 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 11 September 2003. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  7. ↑ "Garden SOS - BBC One London - 18 September 2003 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 18 September 2003. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  8. ↑ "Garden SOS - BBC One London - 25 September 2003 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 25 September 2003. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  9. ↑ "Garden SOS - BBC One London - 2 October 2003 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 2 October 2003. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  10. ↑ "Garden SOS - BBC One London - 9 October 2003 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 9 October 2003. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  11. ↑ "Presenter unveiled for Irish version of DIY SOS:The Big Build". Irish News. 9 October 2019.
  12. ↑ "Nick Knowles 'holding crisis talks with the BBC as he faces axe'". 20 May 2021 – via www.entertainmentdaily.co.uk.
  13. ↑ "Nick Knowles to return to DIY SOS role despite Shreddies advert". BBC News. 26 May 2021.
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