DIY SOS is a British DIY television series made for the BBC and presented by Nick Knowles. The first episode was broadcast on 7 October 1999 and has continued to air into 2016. A sister show, Garden SOS, aired for one series in 2003.
History
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 over 15 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 contained fitting the couple's semi-detached home with a new kitchen.[1]
DIY SOS: The Big Build
DIY SOS became DIY SOS: The Big Build from 2010. The show is now a one-hour programme in which the team enlists the help of local tradesmen, suppliers and the larger community to help deserving families. As the title suggests, the projects are much more ambitious and often involve major construction work such as building a loft conversion or extension. The new format DIY SOS: The Big Build was inspired by television executive Simon Knight.
A live special filmed over the course of the May 2001 bank holiday weekend, with episodes aired on Friday, Sunday and Monday, and additional updates following other programming during the course of Saturday,[27] Sunday[28] and Monday[29] (before the final episode). The Live event was trailed with a 5 minute preview show on the previous Sunday (29 April 2001).[30]
In a half hour episode, Nick Knowles's crew begins one project, while the choice of a second project for Lowri Turner's team to complete is put to the public vote, from a choice of three.
Hour long special rescuing ex-pat projects, including the bedroom conversion of a 15th-century farmhouse's grain store, and the child bedroom conversion of an old kitchen
Finish the improvements to Scott and Gemma's house, made necessary after Gemma suffered a brain tumour, the project having been started by Scott himself.
Build a separate play area for Merrilee and Chris's two year old daughter Mia, made necessary due to the lack of space caused by the equipment required to treat her cystic fibrosis.
Renovate the bedroom and en-suite bathroom for Maria and Barrie; they had been making slow progress on their house ever since the birth of their quadruplets, four and a half years previously.
Episode 2 was not listed in the BBC episode guide as of June 2016, with the page still featuring the message "There will be 8 episodes. More information coming soon"[121]
Create a multi-functional room with an eco-friendly heating system for John and Maaike in their house located inside a former telephone exchange; they had begun renovations themselves, but work had stopped after Maaike was diagnosed with osteonecrosis in 2003.
Complete an extension to create a media lounge for Stuart and his three boys; having begun the project himself, work stopped at the shell stage, after the death of his wife Hilary.
Completion of an open plan lounge and diner for Sarah, Paul and daughter Caitlin; Paul had begun the work but after suffering kidney failure three years previously, the room had remained as a bare brick room.
Completion of a kitchen diner for single mother-of-two Yvette; had begun the work herself but had suffered a back complaint for most of it, leaving the room unfinished and without electricity.
Complete the conversion of Elisa and Andy's garage into a playroom for their daughter Molly, who has Downs Syndrome; they had begun the project six years previously but made little progress.
Complete a kitchen diner for Phil's family, whose son has the condition PKU; Phil had done some work on the rest of the house, but found the kitchen too daunting.
Complete the two bedroom extension for Kevin and Tracey; having begun the project themselves for daughters Kirsty and Imogen, they suffered the loss of Imogen at fifteen months, and had since had another baby, David, all of which had impacted on the project schedule, which had also gone over budget.
Complete the lounge of Craig and Vicky's house, the last room of the couple's renovations, which had experienced problems and come to a halt after the money ran out; completion would allow the couple to move out of their temporary home with Vicky's mum.
Complete a bathroom extension for Mark and Vicky, made necessary by their eight-year-old son's brain tumour which has confined him to a wheelchair; they had begun the work themselves, but a flood caused by a burst water pipe set the project back.
Completion of a children's bedroom and play area for the Harris family; the project having been begun by the family themselves, but was set back after a leaking sewer flooded the house.
Finish an open-plan kitchen-diner for the Harris family, made necessary by their youngest daughter's medical condition which means she cannot be left unattended; the family had begun the project themselves, but work had not progressed beyond knowing down the dividing wall.
Complete the conversion of a garage into a kitchen for Paul and Pauline, made necessary by their growing family, now numbering six children including a daughter with Down's syndrome and twins with learning difficulties; they had begun the project themselves, but ran out of money.
Complete an open plan kitchen for Carrie and Rob's house, their failed efforts to do it themselves having resulted in Carrie moving in with her mother.
Convert Kerry and Jacquie's garage into a downstairs bathroom, made necessary after the former window cleaner became confined to a wheelchair after falling 25 feet from a ladder.
Complete a kitchen for Neil and Leslie, whose front wall had collapsed after Neil had mistakenly dug too far while building an extension, resulting in Leslie and their children having to move out while he rebuiltl four walls
Convert a loft for Sharon, building a kitchen, bathroom and bedroom to allow her 17-year-old autistic son Perry a degree of independence; the project had been begun by the family, with Perry not having had his own bedroom before.
Create an Indonesian-themed lounge for Debbie and her 8-year-old son, Tyler; Debbie having a heart condition which prevents her doing the work herself.
Completion of the double-storey extension of Lisa and Andy's home, who also have a son, Jordan; begun by Andy two years previously, work had to be stopped after Lisa's diagnosis of brain cancer.
Completion of a cricket themed kitchen/diner/lounge area in the Barker family's bungalow; begun by the family themselves three years previously the project had been beset by a series of disasters.
Renovation of the lounge of Emma's house; having bought a run down property, the original plan of Emma and her father doing it up themselves had to be abandoned due to injuries he suffered in a motorbike accident. Completion of the project allows Emma and nine-year-old son to move out of her parents home into the property.
Renovate a kitchen/lounge of Gary and Andrea's historic but run down cottage; plans to do it themselves had been thwarted by various problems over the previous seven years, leaving them living in an adjacent caravan.
Complete a lounge and diner for the Curry family who have a two-year-old son; their own efforts at performing a simple renovation had gone wrong over the course of two years.
Renovation of Lucy and Mario's kitchen and dining area, required to be medically clean as a result of their daughters brain tumour. The couple had previously been renovating the house themselves.
Improvement to Ray and Linda's house, grandparents and guardians to fourteen year old twins Nathan and Chelsea; conversion of a toy room into a dining room, and renovation of a bedroom for Chelsea and the garden.
Renovation of three bedrooms for Cristina, Daniella and Sophia, daughters of Stephen and Fillippa; Stephen having failed to take on the job of completing an extension and renovation after falling out with the builder.
Remodelling of a street in Manchester to provide accommodation and career re-training facilities for two war veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan and are now suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); other veterans will also benefit from the facilities on a day visit basis.
Complete the extension of Liz's house, made necessary by her son James' special needs; having gone into debt to pay for the work, it had been started in July 2008 but abandoned unfinished and unsafe by the builders six months later.
Renovate the home of social work student Lorraine and her three children; left in a half finished state, the house lacks a communal area for the family to spend time together
Completion of a kitchen extension on Ceri's former council house, a project he had begun himself but had to stop after redundancy and debilitating illness; as a result the family's three teenage daughters had spent two years living with their grandparents in their two bedroom flat.
Making good the destruction caused by rogue builders on Mike's house; he had invested his life savings on the work, the need for which had become evident after his 16-year-old son suffered an asthma attack while visiting, caused by the damp conditions of the aged flint built building.
Complete the two-storey extension of Kathy's home, where she lived with her two teenage daughters. The work had been started by husband and father Shaun in 2007, who after a year had completed it up to roof level, before committing suicide after losing his job. Filmed in March 2010.[175]
Add an extension and modify Sue's two-storey home, made necessary after her eldest son Jay's brain injury suffered during a rugby match in March 2009; having spent a year in a coma in hospital, on waking, his return home to live with his mother and two siblings was conditional on the necessary change (adding a downstairs bedroom, wet room and space for a wheelchair) being approved by carers. Filmed in April 2010.[177]
Completion of an extension to Micheal's home; a builder by trade he had begun the task after his son-in-law's multiple sclerosis had meant he had to start using a wheelchair, but had to stop when Micheal himself was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
Reconfigure the family home of sixteen-year-old Kieron, who had had a heart transplant and a double amputation due to a heart condition, only diagnosed after he collapsed in December 2009; for the past year his situation had meant the family had to live apart.
Completion of the renovation of Haydn's house; bought at auction in 2004 he had begun the work himself, but had to abandon it shortly after following a terminal diagnosis of abdominal cancer; as a result Haydn, his wife and three daughters were having to live out of the one room he had managed to finish.
Complete the extension and renovation of Leslie and Maria's former council house, which they had begun themselves but had to stop after just a year in 2007 after running out of money and later enduring various other crises, including one of their children to miss nearly a year of schooling through ill health.[182]
Extending and renovating single-mother Louise's post war prefab house, which she had been working on until her son was diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder.
Completion of the conversion of music teacher Ian and Morny's two-bedroom bungalow into a four-bedroom house to suit the family's various needs, which included one of their children having learning difficulties and Morny's chronic long-term illness; Ian had begun the work himself, but had soon been overwhelmed.
Completion of an extension to Lisa and Richard's house, whose daughter Madison was born with a heart defect and a rare eating disorder necessitating 24 hour care; a builder by trade Richard had begun the task himself but had not got beyond erecting the basic shell.
Completion of the two-storey breeze block shell of a house being built by David for him and his eight-year-old daughter, Erica. He had begun the project himself, but work came to a halt after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, and his wife and Erica's mother died in 2010. As a result, David and Erica had been living in a caravan next to the shell since 2006.
Improvements to the terraced house of Eric, wife Davina and their three daughters, made necessary by Eric's terminal diagnosis of motor neurone disease.[188]
Renovation of Sue's country cottage, home to her and her two young children, which has become dilapidated in the years since the sudden death of Sue's partner Barry from a heart attack on Christmas Day 2003.
Completion of an extension to Wayne and Joanne's house, made necessary to care for their three children, who all have the inherited condition Fragile X Syndrome; they had begun the task themselves a year earlier, but were unable to complete the job.
Completion of an extension to Paul and Sarah's small bungalow; they had begun it themselves but had to abandon the work after their young son Joshua was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of liver cancer.
Expansion of single mother Julie's house, made necessary after she fulfilled her childhood friend Caroline's last will and testament wish by becoming legal guardian to her five younger children (aged seven to thirteen in 2013), expanding her family which already consisted of three sons (aged 15 to 20). Caroline had died from an inoperable brain tumour in June 2010, while her husband David had died suddenly from a brain haemorrhage just six months earlier.[193]
Completion of the extension of Neil and Rebecca's house; they had embarked on the work themselves as their family grew, but had to stop after Neil was made redundant and their youngest child was diagnosed with autism.
A single-storey extension and upgrades to Hanna and Mike's small family home, made necessary after their youngest two of three children, twin boys, were born prematurely, resulting in one having cerebral palsy and the other being profoundly deaf.
Improvements to the terrace home of former British Army engineer and parachutist Mo, which was no longer suitable for his and his family's needs; having been medically discharged after 20 years service due to prolonged and continuous damage to his knees, his condition had deteriorated to the point where he could no longer walk unaided and was in near constant pain.
Completion and upgrading of an extension of Paul's two bedroom house to house his large family, which he was performing himself before his wife died shortly after she gave birth to their sixth child.
This was the biggest single house project of the show so far, and was hampered by blizzard conditions.
Improvements to the home of eight-year-old Dakota, who was born with quadriplegic cerebral palsy; the resulting increase in mobility is expected to increase her life expectancy of just 15 years.
Completion of upgrades to Michelle and Rod's house, made necessary due to the disabilities suffered by their six-year-old daughter Maddie as a result of a rare brain disease; they had begun the project themselves two years previously but had encountered unforeseen problems which meant they were living in just two rooms.
24.6
TBC
TBC
As of June 2016, episode six had not been broadcast, with the series page containing the message "There will be 6 episodes. More information coming soon".[202]
Extension of John and June's house, made necessary after June contracted a brain infection in 2010 and has been confined to a hospital bed in the kitchen ever since, unable to walk or talk.
Completion and upgrading of improvements to the 18th Century home of Rob and Michelle, which they were doing up themselves until their son Noah was born with spina bifida and only two per cent of his brain.
A two-storey extension to the house of firefighter Colin and his wife Clare, made necessary by the February 2012 diagnosis of their eldest son Christopher, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Improvements to electrician Dave's house after he was left partially paralysed by a stroke, leaving him confined to a hospital bed in the kitchen of the house he shares with his wife and two daughters.
Improvements to former hospital worker Jason and cardiac nurse Effie's two floor house, which is no longer suitable for them and their two children after Jason was left visually impaired, paralysed down one side and with limited speech after a motorcycle accident.
Improvements to Helen's small three bedroom semi-detached house to allow fifteen year old Jack, born with a rare form of muscular dystrophy, to sleep upstairs, and enable the family to spend more time together (Jack also having an elder brother, Dan).
Improvements to Scott and Jenny's two-up, two-down end-of-terrace house, to allow their 13-year-old son Charlie, who was born with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy and global developmental delay, to remain with the family alongside his two older and two younger brothers.
This was the biggest single house project of the show so far, involving a rebuild of the entire downstairs and remodeling of the rest.
Addition of a self-contained apartment alongside Frank and Christine's two-bedroom bungalow so that they can care for their 35-year-old son Mark, who requires 24 hour care after suffering severe brain damage and paralysis as a result of an unprovoked attack in April 2012; for the past two years he had been living in a care home 15 miles.
Improvements to Liz and Jason's house, which Jason was improving before being diagnosed with the genetic condition Fabry's disease and also later motor neurone disease, giving him just years to live; this will allow Jason to continue to live with his family, and allow Liz to care for their daughters, who also have the genetic condition.
Improvements to 41-year-old father Mark's home to allow him to better recover from cancer, and give the family more space to care for their identical twins Katie and Emelia, born with achondroplasia.
Improvements to the inadequate home of Sam and Ben, who are struggling to find time to both work as paramedics and raise their two sons, one of whom, five year old Ewan, has special needs.
Improvements to former police officer Richard and Jude's home, which is no longer suitable for them and their three sons, Harry, nine, Oscar, seven and Archie, four, after Richard suffered a brainstem stroke in June 2012 and has only partially recovered after being locked-in for nine months, now being confined to an electric wheelchair with limited speech and movement.
Improvements to Charlotte and Chris's cramped house to aid the development of their premature twins, who have the condition global developmental delay.
Completion of the renovation of former firefighter Joe's two bedroom two floor cottage; he had begun it himself before being hampered by an injury which meant he had to leave the fire service, and also a lack of funds due to flooding of the site. He also had to deal with the death of his wife from leukemia in 2014 shortly into the build. Completion would allow Joe and his 7 year old daughter Lisa to move out of the caravan they had been living in on the site.
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.[221]
Garden SOS
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,[222] to be completed within three days.[223] It was presented by television presenter Andy Collins and garden designer Ann-Marie Powell.[224] As with DIY SOS, viewers were given the chance via a telephone vote to select the projects in each subsequent episode.[222] 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.[225] There were six episodes in total: