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Changing Rooms is a British Entertainment television programme. Broadcast on the BBC, it is the game show that began the DIY show fad of the late 1990s.
Format
The object of the show was for couples to swap houses with friends or neighbours with each pair doing up each other's houses. This would lead up to a finalé 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. Changing Rooms was originally hosted by Carol Smillie, and assisting with the remodeling was cockney carpenter, "Handy" Andy Kane.
History
The show's first episode was broadcast in 1996, and the final edition was broadcast on 22nd November 2004 after a successful 8 year, 15 series run. Former designer on the show Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen took over presenting the show from Carol Smillie in 2003 for series 14 and 15. The designers on the final edition were Graham Wynne and Anna Ryder Richardson. Handy Andy has gone on to host his own DIY shows.
Disasters
On 28th December 2004 a Christmas special was broadcast. It came from the Cornish village of Boscastle, Cornwall, England which was hit by a great flood on Monday 16th August 2004. On that day, the whole of August's average rainfall, a total of 75mm, fell in two hours BBC News. The designers on this special edition were Anna Ryder Richardson, Graham Wynne and Gordon Whistance.
On one episode, a Linda Barker room was being built to accommodate a large collections of teapots. Overnight, the shelves collapsed, decimating the valuable collection.
Overseas editions
The show has been franchised and variations of it appear in several other countries, sometimes with a different name - such as Trading Spaces in America. The original Changing Rooms is also broadcast overseas, for example, on BBC America.
A New Zealand edition of the show was produced for several years, also called Changing Rooms. The show was identically formatted to the British series, with host Kerry Smith, "Handy" Andy Dye, and regular designers including Donald Grant Sutherland, Neil McLachlan, and Sally Ridge. A handful of international shows were produced, each featuring one couple in New Zealand and one in the United Kingdom.
MDF
Medium-density fibreboard was a material used frequently on the show. It would be untrue to say it gained cult status as a result of this, but it did become famous enough that it helped the Changing Rooms team make an appearance on British charity appeal Children in Need. During the show, which is essentially a televised variety show, the team performed "YMDF", a parody of YMCA.
External links
BBC television programmes | UKTV programmes | New Zealand television | HGTV shows
"Changing Rooms (TV series)"