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Grand Designs

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses of "Grand Design", see Grand Design (disambiguation).

Grand Designs
Presented byKevin McCloud
Theme music composerDavid Lowe
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series22
No. of episodes159 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time60 minutes
Production companiesTalkback (1999–2006)
Talkback Thames (2006–11)
Boundless (2012–20)
Naked Television (2021–)
Original release
NetworkChannel 4
Release29 April 1999 (1999-04-29) –
present
Related
Kevin McCloud's Man Made Home

Grand Designs is a British television series that has broadcast on Channel 4 since 29 April 1999 and is presented by Kevin McCloud.

Format

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Episodes generally follow a regular format, with small variations depending on the progress of the build. At the beginning of an episode, McCloud meets the clients embarking on the project; he visits the site with them, and discusses the plans for the building. A computer visualisation or computer-aided design view of the intended project is shown. Once ground work commences, he visits the site periodically, following the build progress, noting any changes, hitches or delays; the build frequently runs over budget and completes later than scheduled. McCloud will often do a piece to camera concentrating on any unique materials or features in the house. He visits again once the building is made watertight, and the first and second fixes have commenced. He makes a final visit to the site in its finished or near-finished state, once the occupants have moved in. A tour of the house is then given; McCloud brings the episode to a close summarising the house, its construction, and his opinions.

If a house is not completed before filming finishes, it will sometimes be revisited in a later episode. In more recent series, McCloud revisits past unfinished builds once they have been completed and may stay overnight.

The properties featured in Grand Designs are hugely varied in style and design, from underground homes to converted water towers to buildings constructed in methods of sustainable architecture; the only common factor is that they are all unusual or extravagant. The most popular episode of the series for both Kevin McCloud and viewers was Series 3, Episode 3 with Ben Law's home and a sweet chestnut frame made from his own woodland costing very little.[1]

Transmissions

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Main article: List of Grand Designs episodes
SeriesEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
18[2]29 April 1999 (1999-04-29)24 June 1999 (1999-06-24)
28[2]17 July 2001 (2001-07-17)4 September 2001 (2001-09-04)
38[2]12 February 2003 (2003-02-12)1 October 2003 (2003-10-01)
47[2]21 January 2004 (2004-01-21)10 March 2004 (2004-03-10)
520[2]6 April 2005 (2005-04-06)16 May 2007 (2007-05-16)
67[2]16 January 2008 (2008-01-16)2 April 2008 (2008-04-02)
78[2]28 January 2009 (2009-01-28)8 April 2009 (2009-04-08)
88[2]15 September 2010 (2010-09-15)3 November 2010 (2010-11-03)
97[2]14 September 2011 (2011-09-14)26 October 2011 (2011-10-26)
108[2]12 September 2012 (2012-09-12)7 November 2012 (2012-11-07)
119[2]4 September 2013 (2013-09-04)30 October 2013 (2013-10-30)
127[2]3 September 2014 (2014-09-03)15 October 2014 (2014-10-15)
137[2]9 September 2015 (2015-09-09)21 October 2015 (2015-10-21)
148[2]21 September 2016 (2016-09-21)17 November 2016 (2016-11-17)
158[2]6 September 2017 (2017-09-06)25 October 2017 (2017-10-25)
166[2]19 September 2018 (2018-09-19)24 October 2018 (2018-10-24)
176[2]4 September 2019 (2019-09-04)9 October 2019 (2019-10-09)
185[2]6 January 2021 (2021-01-06)3 February 2021 (2021-02-03)
197[2]1 September 2021 (2021-09-01)13 October 2021 (2021-10-13)
207[2]31 August 2022 (2022-08-31)12 October 2022 (2022-10-12)
215[2]27 September 2023 (2023-09-27)8 November 2023 (2023-11-08)
228[3]September 2024 (2024-09)TBA


International versions

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hosted by Chris Moller for its first six seasons, premiered on 4 October 2015 in New Zealand on TV3. The first season consisted of 8 x 60 minutes episodes.[5][6] The second season premiered on 25 September 2016 and also consisted of 8 x 60 minutes episodes.[7] A third season of eight episodes aired in 2017.[8]
  • Grand Designs Sweden (2020)[9]
  • Grand Designs Finland (2022)[10]

DVDs

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DVD Title Discs Year Episodes Release date
The Complete Series One 2 1999 8 25 October 2004
The Complete Series Two 2 2001 8 5 January 2009
Series Three 2 2003 7 17 July 2006
Series Four 2 2004 7 5 May 2008
Series Five - Volume One 2 2005-2006 8 16 March 2009
Series Five - Volume Two 2 2006-2007 8 27 April 2009
Series Five - Volume Three 1 2007 4 5 October 2009
Series Six 2 2008 6 26 April 2010
Series Seven 2 2009 7 27 September 2010
Series Eight 2 2010 8 5 September 2011
Series Nine 2 2011 8 15 October 2012
Series Ten 2 2012 8 30 September 2013
Series Eleven 2 2013 9 29 September 2014

Exhibition

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Grand Designs Live ambassadors Jo Hamilton and George Clarke compete in a 'cook-off'

Grand Designs Live takes place biannually, in London in the spring and in Birmingham in the autumn. The exhibitions display contemporary design and technology for the home and garden, with stands for suppliers and manufacturers to promote their goods and services. Design and media personalities McCloud, George Clarke and Jo Hamilton are show ambassadors.

The nine-day Grand Designs Live 2008 event, held at London's ExCeL, attracted over 100,000 visitors. To accompany the event Channel 4 broadcast two live daily programmes directly from the show, Grand Designs Live: Today and Grand Designs Live.

Grand Designs Live launched in Australia in Sydney on 21–23 October 2011.[11] It launched in Melbourne on 21–23 September 2012 and returned to Sydney on 5–7 October 2012.[needs update][12]

Awards and nominations

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The programme has been nominated a number of times in the BAFTA Features category and won in 2015.[13]

Year Award Category Recipient Results Ref.
2000 BAFTA TV Awards Features Daisy Goodwin, John Silver Nominated [13]
2004 John Silver, Daisy Goodwin, Kevin McCloud Nominated [13]
2008 BAFTA TV Craft Awards Director – Factual Livia Russell Nominated [13]
2013 BAFTA TV Awards Features Production Team Nominated [14]
2014 Kevin McCloud, Fiona Caldwell, Rob Gill, John Lonsdale Nominated [15]
2015 Production Team Won [16]

References

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  1. ^ Sarah Lonsdale. "Kevin McCloud: Most Grand Designs are too big and too bright". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "Grand Designs UK". Fremantle. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  3. ^ Molina-Whyte, Lidia (28 August 2024). "Grand Designs 25th anniversary special air date confirmed as series returns". radiotimes.com.
  4. ^ Lifestylechannel.com.au Archived 2 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "Grand Designs New Zealand". Architecture Now. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  6. ^ "Grand Designs NZ". Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  7. ^ "Grand Designs New Zealand: Complete Episode List". thetvdb.com. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  8. ^ "Grand Designs New Zealand - All 4". www.channel4.com.
  9. ^
  10. ^ "Grand Designs Suomi".
  11. ^ "Grand Designs Australia Live Sydney 2011". Archived from the original on 18 October 2011. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  12. ^ "Grand Designs Australia Live is Coming to Melbourne". Retrieved 7 July 2011.
  13. ^ a b c d "BAFTA Awards Search". BAFTA.
  14. ^ "Bafta TV awards 2013: List of winners". BBC. 12 May 2013.
  15. ^ "Bafta TV awards 2014: Winners in full". BBC. 18 May 2014.
  16. ^ Hannah Furness (10 May 2015). "BBC's star shows are eclipsed at the Bafta Television awards 2015". The Daily Telegraph.
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