Grand Designs viewers said they “turned off” the Channel 4 programme as they took to social media to complain about a revisited episode. The show, presented by Kevin McCloud, aired on Wednesday 14 October and looked back 25 years to a build in Yorkshire.
Revisit to a 19th-century mill
The episode revisited Chris and Gill, a couple who designed and built their dream home from a 19th-century mill in West Yorkshire. Kevin opened the episode by saying: “West Yorkshire has always been a place of innovation, manufacturing and mills.” He spoke about the disrepair of one mill before it was brought back to life by “gutsy pioneers”.
Kevin continued: “25 years ago, Chris and Gill put that same spirit of innovation into the restoration of one of these forgotten buildings. They took an abandoned mill and turned it into a high-tech home, and they did it in proper Yorkshire style - no nonsense, with grit.” Gill and Chris had bought the derelict mill in 1999 without seeing the site. “What a dump,” Kevin had declared at the time.
Viewer reaction
As Kevin reflected on where Gill and Chris were now, viewers were disgruntled at the revisit rather than a new project. One person fumed: “Another pointless edition of #granddesigns.” Another said: “Always disappointing seeing ‘new’ @granddesigns and its the revisited version.” Someone else added: “There obviously hasn't been many new 'grand design' projects in the country over the last few years as it's a 'revisited' episode four shows into the new series.”
Another viewer said they’ve “turned it off”, while another added: “Was exactly my point too.” One wrote: “#granddesigns revisit, in other words, it’s a repeat.” However, some viewers were more positive, with one sharing: “I can’t wait! This one was amazing at the time.” Another declared: “This was one of my favourite GD's of all time.”
Kevin McCloud on the show’s success
Ahead of the new series, Kevin spoke about the success of Grand Designs and was asked if the series has changed the way people build houses. He replied: “It is very chicken and egg, what came first? I think the great thing about television is that it can reflect society, and I think television is at its best when it is able to do that and hold a mirror up and say, this is us now. Channel 4 are very good at doing this, I think it is one of the most compelling things about the channel.”
He added: “Grand Designs has been going forever, and so the question is whether it holds a mirror up and I believe the answer is yes, it does so because we have no real formula. We find projects in the real world and we observe, that is it. Grand Designs strengths and its longevity are down to the fact it doesn’t really have a format other than that. It has a beginning and a conclusion, but what happens in the middle is not up to us, it is up to the people who are building. We, of course, go out of our way to find interesting and challenging projects that are more at the margins, that show us where we might be as a society in 5,10, 20 years time, not just where we are now. So, my short answer is possibly, but it is much more important for us to show examples of stuff which show the rest of society how we might be building and living in the future.”
Grand Designs airs Wednesdays at 9pm on Channel 4.
