Ordinary Gweilo

Watching BBC Lifestyle last night produced a bizarre juxtaposition.

First there was Extreme Makeover – Home Edition in which a few hundred contractors appear as if by magic to build a brand new house in less than 7 days, and there are nice touches such as a brand new truck being dropped in by helicopter. Subtle it is not. Oh, and American it is.

Then, immediately after that they had Grand Designs, in which an unassuming (but totally mad) bloke was rebuilding a 14th Century Castle in Skipton, Yorkshire.  In Britain.

You know that the new house in EMHE will be finished within the week and the family will love it, but there is far less certainty on Grand Designs. In this one they started with nothing more than some crumbling walls – and it was no surprise when one of them collapsed completely – and it took more than two years to complete.

In EMHE there is no discussion of the budget, and every room has its own big-screen TV. Contractors take part in return for loving close-ups of their company names. In Grand Designs, contractors have to be paid, and you know that the budget is a big issue. Francis Shaw, the mad castle owner, solemnly tells us that if the expenditure on the castle renovation goes over £600,000 he will have to sell and walk away. It does, but he doesn’t.

If you want to see how it turned out, the castle has it own website, and there might even be the chance for Ruth Watson to do a follow-up show. 

I might add that neither of these shows was made by or for the BBC, but at least Grand Designs (which was made for Channel 4) does seem at home on a BBC channel, whereas Extreme Makeover – Home Edition has far too many people running around  and shouting.