Ugly House to Lovely House with George Clarke

In the past, this programme has been criticised for being ‘unrelatable’ and ‘unrealistic’ with the people involved going well over budget and throwing tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds at wildly outlandish projects.

In one episode last year, a couple’s original budget was £260,000 but they ended up spending well over £300,000.

Host George Clarke argued: “I think that’s staggering value for money, you basically have a whole new house.”

However, plenty of viewers disagreed with the architect, saying the show was prompting already cash-strapped folks into ‘blowing their budgets sky high’.

One annoyed viewer said: “Brilliantly over budget again! Perhaps the skill in the next series is to get the architects to design to the client’s budget… which is what should happen in the real world”.

Regardless of whether you think the programme, which “acts as a fairy godmother to the Cinderellas of the housing world” doesn’t reflect property renovations in the real world, you can’t argue that it’s good telly.

Over the past few years, George, 46, who lives in Gloucestershire with his wife, three kids and beloved husky Loki, has shown that even the ugliest houses can be transformed into beautiful homes to be proud of.

He’s teamed up the owners of some of Britain’s most unloved houses with some of the UK’s leading architects and builders, and the results have been staggering.

Sunderland-born George, who began his career working with world-famous architect Sir Terry Farrell before setting up his own company clarke:desai with partner Bobby Desai in 1998, currently spends a lot of his time on the road and working.

However, to him the home is very important. He told The Sunday Times: “The house, which we bought last year, sits on a steep hill so you enter it at the upper level.

“I also have a place in London, but home is in the Cotswolds now. I have quite a nomadic life.

“I travel a lot and spend on average three nights a week in hotels, so I take every opportunity I can to get home.

“Home is something I never take for granted. I’m an ambassador for Shelter, the homeless charity, so I’m always grateful I have a roof above my head.

“It might sound such a simple thing to say, but just being in your own bed means a lot: having your personal space, your own things, your own pillow.”

For the second episode of the fourth series, George oversees perhaps the most radical transformation to date. Among the elegant Victorian and Edwardian properties in south west London sits Matt and Kevin’s 1930s monstrosity – a home that stands out from the crowd for all the wrong reasons.

Ugly from the outside, this three-up-three-down is even worse on the inside, with dark, dated and badly-designed spaces.

George enlists architect duo Katerina Dionysopoulou and Billy Mavropoulos from Bureau de Change, who are famed for their dramatic sculptural work, to turn this beast into a beauty.

But is their wildly ambitious poured-concrete extension too innovative for the homeowners? And what will the effect be on Matt and Kevin’s budget?

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