Grand Designs

Woebot

Woebot

Well-known member
OK it singles me out as pipe'n'slippers but I loved this show, the only good thing ever to come out of the whole property-boom-on-tv phenomenon.

The older series were full of genuinely interesting buildings and bold people taking chances. And Kevin McCloud has to be one of the most likeable people on the box.

The new series though, what a fuck-up. Bad buildings, unattractive people (and i mean this in the most holistic sense ;)) and thinly-disguised re-runs of previous episodes. How the hell did they get away with it?
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
I hate to admit it, but I really enjoy watching it when excruciatingly smug posh people* plough lots of cash into these projects and then they all go tits up.

The one where the couple in Brighton did up this penthouse and flooded out all the old dears who lived in the block beneath was most excellent.

And I remember some people doing something grandiose in waterloo who were so cocky they decided that retrospective planning permission was the right thing to do. It wasn't. :D

But yeah, I do remember some of the buildings and projects in the earlier series being much more interesting.

Kevin McCloud is cool though.

*not everyone on the show is like this.
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
the new series has just been about rich people fucking up hasn't it? where are the exciting buildings? the people with passion? where's the copicer who builds a house out of local natural materials?

that 'its not easy being green' programme seems to have taken on that role. but the colonal is a fool and unwatchable
 
Grievous Angel

Grievous Angel

Beast of Burden
I liked it a lot and still subscribe to the mag. It has lots of good details.

They have a problem recruiting people to go on it because they've stitched up so many people who've been on it. The editing can be pretty cruel to the people who've been on - I know a couple. And they really muck you about - they want to film the big events, which means they want you to delay things like pouring concrete foundations to fit Kevin Mcloud's schedule. This costs real money. So I don't think I'm going to go on it. Kevin Mcloud is supposed to be a nice guy though.

So there's now a real reticence among people doing interesting building projects to go on. Hence the endless re-runs of old projects. I quite like the trade secrets thing that they do now, people in the business have expressed reservations about the architects who do the commentary but I quite like them.

It's amazing how many people go onto these projects with really poor construction project management skills though. We tend to shout at the TV a lot - "Don't do that you tosser it's all going to wrong!"
 
sufi

sufi

lala
haha d'you remember darron that we used to go raving with matt???
well he was on gd with his partner = tom watkins boy band producer, lucy called me up back in 2003 larfing her arse off to see darron on telly, well installed with a kitesurfing business, tom & their multi-$$$ art collection... www.thebigwhitehouse.com/
 
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Woebot

Woebot

Well-known member
sufi said:
haha d'you remember darron that we used to go raving with matt???
well he was on gd with his partner = tom watkins boy band producer, lucy called me up back in 2003 larfing her arse off to see darron on telly, well installed with a kitesurfing business, tom & their multi-$$$ art collection... www.thebigwhitehouse.com/
Click to expand...

we knew him! god i saw that one. shacked up with that tubby bloke. yikes.
 
Woebot

Woebot

Well-known member
john eden said:
The one where the couple in Brighton did up this penthouse and flooded out all the old dears who lived in the block beneath was most excellent.
Click to expand...


sfunny but i kept thinking how much that bloke looked like 2stepfan.

(aside) not too much of an insult though really paul, he was one of those alpha male fellows with quite an attractive wife.

but yes i saw that and thought- christ you selfish twat. lying to himself about the damage he was inflicting on his pensioner neighbours.
 
Grievous Angel

Grievous Angel

Beast of Burden
[shakes head in disbelief]

I don't look anything like him! I have hair for one thing...

He put a brave face on it but I don't think he was that happy with what he got in the end... bit of a missed opportunity and the finishing was dreadful.
 
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