The BBC's beloved home makeover show Changing Rooms launched Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen to stardom and featured Carole Smillie, Anna Richardson, and 'Handy Andy' Kane. Airing from 1996 to 2004 on the BBC, it was revived by Channel 4 from 2021 to 2022. Since the show ended, the cast have pursued vastly different paths, with some facing dramatic scandals.
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen: Still Designing and Married
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has remained a television fixture, appearing on shows like Stepping Out and Celebrity Antiques Road Trip. He married his wife Jackie in 1989, and they have two daughters. The couple live in a 17th-century Grade-II listed manor house in Gloucestershire. Laurence has admitted their relationship has had "tremendous highs and tremendous lows." He once tried to get fired from Changing Rooms by creating a "deliberately erotic" room, but the producers loved it, and it reportedly "completely and utterly mended their sex life."
Carol Smillie: From Presenter to Humanist Celebrant
Carol Smillie, the show's presenter, has undergone a striking transformation. She qualified as a humanist celebrant through the Humanist Society Scotland in 2018, now leading ceremonies. She now sports brunette hair and a fringe, a far cry from her modelling days. Her last regular presenting role was on Finding Scotland's Heroes (2013–2014).
'Handy Andy' Kane: American Spin-off and Family Life
Andy Kane, known as 'Handy Andy,' appeared on the American version of the show, Trading Spaces, after the BBC series ended. He is now happily married to his wife Geraldine, and they have four children together.
Anna Ryder Richardson: Zoo Owner and Legal Ordeal
Interior designer Anna Ryder Richardson remained a much-loved face on Changing Rooms and appeared on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2007. In 2008, she purchased a Pembrokeshire zoo for £1 million. In 2012, a falling tree injured a mother and her three-year-old son, leading to health and safety charges. She was cleared of all wrongdoing, as tree maintenance was her husband's responsibility. She sold the zoo in 2018 and moved to France.
Elizabeth Wagstaff: Prison for Faking Cancer
In 2000, Elizabeth Wagstaff was sentenced to one year in prison after lying to friends and designers on Changing Rooms about having cancer to obtain £55,000. At Inner London Crown Court, she admitted charges of obtaining money and property by deception. She claimed she needed the money for medical treatment in the US but instead spent it on designer clothes to impress her boyfriend, who "liked his women to dress well."
