''Changing Rooms'' is a

do-it-yourself "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and se ...

home improvement show broadcast in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

on the BBC between 1996 and 2004. The series was revived on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

in 2021. The show was one of a number of home improvement and lifestyle shows popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The show was later franchised, generally under the same name, for the local TV markets in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

Format

The premise of the show was for couples to swap houses with friends or neighbours with each pair decorating one room in each other's homes. This leads up to a finale with both couples seeing their rooms, and meeting up again – almost invariably on still friendly terms. With the show including some top designers, their ideas could be a little over the top, which led to a few tears and tantrums.

History

The show began on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

, at 9pm on 4 September 1996, before transferring to

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

for the start of the third series in 1998. The final edition was broadcast on 22 November 2004 after a successful 8-year, 17 series run. The cancellation was announced on 27 August 2004. ''Changing Rooms'' was originally hosted by

Carol Smillie Carol Patricia Smillie (born 23 December 1961) is a Scottish television presenter, actress and former model. Smillie became famous as a presenter on British TV during the 1990s and early 2000s. She was best known for assisting Nicky Campbell on ...

, and assisting with the remodelling was a

Cockney Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or ...

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters t ...

, "Handy" Andy Kane. The former designer on the show, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, took over presenting the show from Smillie in 2003 for series 14 and 15. "Handy" Andy went on to host his own DIY shows. In November 2004, a special episode was taped in

Boscastle Boscastle ( kw, Kastel Boterel) is a village and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England, in the civil parish of Forrabury and Minster (where the 2011 Census population was included) . It is south of Bude and northeast of Tin ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

, for Christmas broadcast. Designers

Anna Ryder Richardson Anna Caroline Ryder Richardson (born 29 January 1964) is a British interior designer and television presenter. She is known for being a designer on the BBC shows ''Changing Rooms'' and the subject of ''Chaos at the Zoo'', which documents her ...

, Graham Wynne and Gordon Whistance took on the task of restoring the decor of homes and businesses damaged in the floods of August that year. The episode was broadcast on 28 December 2004. In October 2020,

announced that it would be reviving the show, with Llewelyn-Bowen returning as presenter alongside

Davina McCall Davina Lucy Pascale McCall (born 16 October 1967) is an English television presenter. She was the presenter of the reality show '' Big Brother'' during its run on Channel 4 between 2000 and 2010. She also hosted Channel 4's ''Streetmate'' (199 ...

. On 22 March 2021, it was confirmed that McCall would not present the revived series due to scheduling conflicts and the delayed filming of the show as a result of coronavirus restrictions. On 5 May 2021,

Anna Richardson Anna Clare Richardson (born 27 September 1970) is an English television presenter, writer and journalist. She has presented various television shows for Channel 4, including ''Supersize vs Superskinny'' (2008–2009), '' The Sex Education Show' ...

was confirmed as McCall's replacement.

Designers

The designers on the original version during its run included: *

Linda Barker Linda Barker (born 26 October 1961) is an English interior designer and television presenter. Education Born in Shelf, on the outskirts of Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Barker was educated at Bradford Girls' Grammar School before ...

*Oliver Heath *Michael Jewitt *Rowena Johnson * Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen *Laura McCree *

*Liz Wagstaff *Gordon Whistance *Graham Wynne *Jordan Cluroe *Russell Whitehead

Disasters

In one episode in series 8, a

room was being built in

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its nam ...

to accommodate a large collection of

teapot A teapot is a vessel used for steeping tea leaves or a herbal mix in boiling or near-boiling water, and for serving the resulting infusion which is called tea. It is one of the core components of teaware. Dry tea is available either in tea ba ...

s. Overnight, the shelves collapsed, demolishing the valuable collection. The show gained popularity through the sometimes unusual designs of Llewelyn-Bowen and the reactions of some participants who disliked their newly designed rooms. Famously, one room of Llewelyn-Bowen's was decorated entirely in animal prints on the advice of the neighbours. The visibly upset homeowners described it as resembling "a tart's boudoir" and pointed out that the neighbours, also friends, had known of their dislike of animal prints but had suggested them to Llewelyn-Bowen as a joke. In another famous episode, Anna Ryder Richardson designed a room for a couple where she placed framed

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, scu ...

French

undergarment Undergarments, underclothing, or underwear are items of clothing worn beneath outer clothes, usually in direct contact with the skin, although they may comprise more than a single layer. They serve to keep outer garments from being soiled o ...

s around the room. On entering the room, the woman screamed aloud and shouted, "Why would I want this shit in my room?! I've got children!" and burst into tears. Richardson apparently blushed brightly. In another episode, after a room had been designed, it had to be redesigned because the owner of the room missed her old

fireplace A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the desig ...

International versions

The show has been franchised and variations of it appear in several other countries, sometimes with a different name – such as ''

Trading Spaces ''Trading Spaces'' is an hour-long American television reality program that originally aired from 2000 to 2008 on the cable channels TLC and Discovery Home. The format of the show was based on the BBC TV series ''Changing Rooms''. The first ...

'' in United States. The original ''Changing Rooms'' is also broadcast overseas, for example, on

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary seri ...

and featured in various US shows, the ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same name, the series premiered in the United Stat ...

'' episode " Lights, Camera, Relationship" being one example. A

edition of the show was produced for several years, also called ''Changing Rooms''. It was identically formatted to the British series, with host Kerry Smith, "Handy" Andy Dye, and regular designers including Donald Grant Sunderland, Neil McLachlan and

Sally Ridge Sally Ridge is an interior designer, television personality and socialite from Auckland, New Zealand. She is currently working as a real estate agent in Auckland city. Career Ridge has been a television presenter on several shows dealing with inter ...

. A handful of international shows were produced, each featuring one couple in New Zealand and one in the United Kingdom. Australia's

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

also produced a local version of ''

Changing Rooms ''Changing Rooms'' is a do-it-yourself home improvement show broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC between 1996 and 2004. The series was revived on Channel 4 in 2021. The show was one of a number of home improvement and lifestyle shows ...

'' from 1998 to 2005, hosted by

Suzie Wilks Suzannah Nicole Wilks (born 12 March 1970) is an Australian TV lifestyle presenter best known as the host of the Australian version of ''Changing Rooms'' between 1998 and 2005. Career Wilks' TV career began on the Nine Network, replacing T ...

who was assisted by

Peter Everett Peter Everett is an Australian television host. He is probably best known for hosting the Australian adaptation of cook show ''Ready Steady Cook'', which aired on Network Ten. He is known for appearing on ''Changing Rooms'' which aired on the ...

, James Lindsay, Catherine Morton and Tim Janenko-Panaeff. The show is being revived by

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of fiv ...

in 2019. In the Netherlands a Dutch version - In Holland staat een huis - was broadcast by RTL4 from 1998 to 2006, hosted by Martijn Krabbé. In 2022 it will be revived on SBS6.

Transmission guide

Original series

Revived series

Specials

References

External links

* *{{Official website, https://www.changingrooms.tv/ 1996 British television series debuts 2022 British television series endings BBC Television shows British television series revived after cancellation Channel 4 original programming English-language television shows Home renovation television series Makeover reality television series Television series by Banijay