You can't beat sitting down with a cup of tea and getting stuck into a makeover show. The recent return of Interior Design Masters has been helping us through lockdown, and who doesn't love watching reruns of Grand Designs?
Related: Escape to the Chateau's Angel and Dick Strawbridge's new show is finally coming to Channel 4
Home furnishings retailer Terrys has studied audience ratings and review data to reveal the UK’s favourite home interior TV shows past and present - is yours on the list?
UK's favourite home interior TV show
8. 60 Minute Makeover
Coming in at number eight is daytime TV favourite, Peter Andre’s 60 Minute Makeover. The show saw a team of experts challenged with redecorating several rooms in a house in just one hour.
With participants often nominated by friends and family for the makeover, it was often quite a tear jerker. The Mysterious Girl singer was there to support the families every step of the way.
7. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
The only series from across the pond to make the list, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition features a weekly race against time as a team of designers, contractors and several hundreds of local workers are given seven days to rebuild an entire house from scratch.
Featuring a star-studded cast including Ty Pennington, Paul DiMeo and Tracy Hutson, each episode follows the journey of a family facing hardship being sent away on the trip of a lifetime. The team are then tasked with completely rebuilding their home before they return.
6. Interior Design Masters
Adding a competition element to interiors inspiration, Interior Design Masters is BBC Two’s most recent dip into home inspiration. The hit TV show follows ten aspiring designers as they tackle a range of exciting challenges, competing to win a life-changing design contract with a huge brand.
Following the first series’ huge success, the show is now back for a further series, with much-loved comedian and TV presenter Alan Carr taking the reins and former ELLE Decoration magazine Editor-in-Chief Michelle Ogundehin reprising her role as head judge.
5. Changing Rooms
Back in 1996, Changing Rooms was one of the first DIY and decorating TV shows of its kind to hit our screens, with its fun format making for exciting and often dramatic TV. Originally presented by Carol Smillie, the home improvement show followed two couples swapping houses to each decorate one room, enlisting the help of an array of top designers including stars such as Linda Barker and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.
The makeovers typically went down a storm, though there were sometimes a few tears and tantrums along the way. We will never forget the teapot shelf incident. The show is set to make a huge comeback in 2021, with Davina McCall confirmed as presenter for the re-boot.
Related: Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen reveals why you should never put furniture against the wall
4. DIY SOS
If the competition was for most seasons to date, then BBC One’s much-loved DIY series DIY SOS would have topped the list. The show has racked up an impressive 31 seasons over the last 22 years.
Presented by Nick Knowles, each episode of DIY SOS (now known as The Big Build) follows the personal story of a deserving family. The DIY SOS team enlisting the help of local tradespeople, suppliers and the wider community to help bring each family’s dream home to life.
3. George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces
10 series in and as popular as ever, George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces explores the extraordinary world of small and unique properties that are turned into incredible places to live. With everything from a glass lodge to floating homes, the Channel 4 series shows homeowners how to get the most out of their space by adapting properties to suit the modern way of living.
2. Grand Designs
Presented by designer and writer Kevin McCloud, Grand Designs just misses out on the top spot, proving extremely popular with architecture-lovers and DIY amateurs alike. Having run for 20 seasons over the last 20 years, Grand Designs is one of the UK’s longest-running home makeover shows.
Each hour-long episode follows different people who have set out to pursue their vision of a dream home. Every project is seriously unique, and often on the quirky side, which makes for inspiring viewing. You can guarantee there'll always be a flood, if not budget and planning permission dilemmas.
1. Escape to the Chateau
Coming in at the top spot is one of our absolute favourites - Escape to the Chateau. The Channel 4 documentary series follows couple Dick and Angel Strawbridge and their family through the challenges of renovating and redecorating a 19th-century castle in north-west France into their dream home.
Viewers of the show witnessed the couple snap up the beautiful estate for a bargain £280,000 back in 2015 and have followed their journey ever since. Proving such a source of inspiration for viewers, Angel has since gone on to launch a collection of home interiors aptly branded The Chateau Collection, including curtains, bedding and soft furnishings.
Related: How to make your home smell gorgeous - tips from Escape to the Chateau's Angel Strawbridge
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