"Changing Rooms" (1997) TV series 1997-2004

Directors:

Heather Darroch
Duncan Hess

Seasons:

unknown

Release Date:

4 October 2004 (Denmark)

Genre:

Reality-TV

Plot:

With 2 days, 500 pounds, a professional designer, and a handyman, two couples are given the opportunity to redo a room in eachother's home...

Plot Keywords:

Home Improvement | Interior Design | Interior Decorator | Non Fiction

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Al Gregg	...	Himself (1 episode, 2002)
Brett Lee	...	Himself (1 episode, 2002)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK

Company:

Bazal

Movie Connections:

Featured in "How TV Changed Britain: Property (#1.4)" (2008)

Far superior original

For all the craze the American remake of this series, 'Trading Spaces,' has started for DIY/makeover shows, it's not hard to see the original series is still the best. 'Changing Rooms' is as much about entertaining audiences as it is educating them on how to improve the style of their homes. All the devices for building suspense and encouraging disagreements and tensions amongst the DIY teams may make this show the bane of professional interior decorators, but... well, who cares? As an entertainment show, 'Changing Rooms' is surprisingly competent. While TLC's Paige Davis is annoyingly perky and largely hands-off when it comes to actually helping with any work, Carole Smilie is a playful, charming workaholic who, refreshingly, doesn't love everything the designers come up with. As for the designers themselves, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen stands out as a sort of larger than life, flamboyant-Hugh Grant character whose British eccentricity and humor is infectious. Like 'Trading Spaces,' this show has its reliably conservative, outrageous and annoying designers, but the program is far less reticent about editing out conflicts and (call it sensationalism, but it's still fun) between the team members and the designers. The British carpenter, Andy Kane is also far more entertaining than any of the Americans: he's funny, critical and brazen. Some will complain how 'Changing Rooms' is shorter and less detailed than its American counterpart. These people do not realize that in the UK, this show is not interrupted by BBC America's long commercial breaks, and thus the imported version has been heavily edited for time. I find the pacing and running time for the BBC America version to be an actual bonus - at an hour, 'Trading Spaces' can sometimes overstay its welcome. The American show plays around with more money and is more slickly produced, but has less charm and less (IMO) entertainment value than the British original. Give it a try.