It’s back! DIY SOS: The Big Build returns

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BBC One

Prepare for spadefuls of community spirit and bucket loads of tear-jerking moments as DIY SOS: The Big Build returns for its most exciting series to date.

Fresh off the back of its landmark 20th series, Nick Knowles and his army of volunteers travel to four locations around the UK to forever change the lives of struggling families.

Hundreds of volunteers gave up their time for this series of DIY SOS: The Big Build, helping to build, renovate and transform homes in Scunthorpe, Cornwall and Weston-Super-Mare.

But the BBC One series kick offs with an extra special episode for BBC Children in Need in Caswell Bay, Swansea.

Nick Knowles says: “Our determined team have been here, there and everywhere getting stuck into some of our most ambitious builds to date. Along the way we’ve met families struggling against huge odds to keep their heads above the water, but as always the tradespeople and suppliers of the UK have proved to be generous and ready to get stuck in for a good cause.”

“As ever, hundreds of volunteers answered our call to help, giving up their time to help people in need in their community.

“This series is full of the community kindness, loving families and life-affirming moments that the audience expects from every DIY SOS. It all kicks off with an incredible build for a wonderful organisation supported by BBC Children in Need and completed within tough Covid guidelines.”

The BBC Children in Need special on November 12 sees volunteer tradespeople completely transform the fortunes of Surfability UK, a community interest company that gives surfing lessons to people with disabilities and learning difficulties, and receives funding from BBC Children in Need. Surfability UK’s current base - a dilapidated out of use bus stop shelter - is turned into a state of the art eco-friendly surf centre.

Ben Clifford, Director of Surfability UK, says: “We were so stoked to hear that DIY SOS and BBC Children in Need were going to be building a new purpose built surf centre for us.

“We started operating from a van in 2013, then in 2016 got our current building. We have loads of problems with flooding, the plaster is all falling off and it just isn’t suitable for our needs, and those of the people that we support.

“We are so excited for this build, which will take our operations to the next level, benefiting so many disabled people here in Wales and across the entirety of the UK.”

But it’s not just community spirit that powers the DIY SOS builds, the hard-working volunteers guzzled 18,000 cups of tea and ate 36,000 biscuits during the filming of the four episodes.

The BBC Children in Need special faced extra challenges because of coronavirus restrictions, which meant, among other things, that volunteers had to be socially distanced.

The other three episodes were filmed last year before the pandemic began.

Those being helped in this series include three orphaned brothers living in a two bedroom bungalow with their grandparents - themselves a stoic couple who have fostered more than a 100 children – and a family in which all three children have a life-limiting illness.

Paolo Proto, Executive Producer for BBC Studios’ DIY SOS: The Big Build, says: “I am constantly humbled by what is achieved by the thousands of brilliant volunteers who make these builds happen, and want to thank them all.

“In this series together we’ve helped people struggling with a range of issues, from depression and loss to disability and life-limiting illnesses.

“At a time when the world is in the midst of a crisis DIY SOS proves once again that when people and communities come together there is hope and that the amazing can happen.”

Last week in Parliament, the MP for Gower, Tonia Antoniazzi, mentioned the Caswell Bay Children in Need special, calling out the “immeasurable impact that DIY SOS has on our communities across the UK”.

DIY SOS: the Big Build airs on BBC One and is available afterwards on iPlayer. It is made by BBC Studios Unscripted Productions in Bristol.

The episodes in this run are:

Caswell Bay, Swansea - 12 November
Scunthorpe - 19 November
Carbis Bay, Cornwall - 26 November
Weston-Super-Mare - 3 December

Source BBC One

October 6, 2020 6:20am ET by BBC One  

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