7 construction themed television shows to help get you through lockdown
If you are a construction professional currently confined to home due to the lockdown or having been furloughed by your employer, you may be looking for industry-related content to inspire and entertain until you can return to work.
Below, I have highlighted seven construction themed shows currently available on streaming services in the UK, with something for all the family.
Home
Home, streaming on Apple TV+, offers viewers a never-before-seen look inside the world’s most innovative homes. Over nine episodes, the programme explores a number of properties including a Swedish log cabin built inside a greenhouse to create a nurturing environment for an autistic child, a home made entirely from sustainable bamboo in Bali, a Hong Kong apartment of just 344 square feet which maximises its space thanks to the countless configurations designed by an ingenious architect and a sci-fi writer’s modern, earth-termed home built on a former industrial wasteland.
The final programme in the series follows two innovative companies who team up to create the world’s first 3D-printed community for an impoverished Mexican town.
Home is streaming on Apple TV+. After a free 7-day trial, the monthly subscription costs £4.99. The company also offer a year’s viewing when you buy an Apple device and redeem the offer within 90 days.
Building the Dream
Architectural designer Charlie Luxton helps people build dream homes that are both amazing and affordable in Channel 4’s Building the Dream with episodes from the ninth and series currently available on demand.
The latest series features a pair of rookie builders constructing a traditional home with a contemporary twist on an exposed Derbyshire hillside, a couple hoping to renovate and supersize a run-down bungalow, and visits West Yorkshire where Phil and Adrienne are planning to build a modern home on a tricky sloping plot.
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
It seems hard to believe that the construction industry helped launch the careers of Jimmy Nail, Timothy Spall, Tim Healy and Kevin Whately. But, along with Pat Roach, Christopher Fairbank and Gary Holton, they played a group of seven British construction workers who leave the UK to search for employment overseas with the first series following their adventures on a building site in Düsseldorf.
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet was created by Franc Roddam based on an idea from Stockton-on-Tees bricklayer Mick Connell, and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, who also wrote The Likely Lads and Porridge.
The first three series, which were broadcast on ITV in 1983–1984 and 1986, are available on demand through UKTV Play. After a fifteen-year gap the programme jumped channels, with two series and a Christmas special shown on BBC One in 2002 and 2004, with a Comic Relief sketch in between.
Building Off the Grid
First broadcast on the Discovery Channel in 2016, Building Off the Grid follows adventurers and their teams as they battle Mother Nature to build unique homes in remote areas. From Montana to the North Pole, from yurts to log cabins to Earthships, the construction teams race to complete their build in time.
Episodes feature a group of off-grid-living enthusiasts building a 300-sq-ft bungalow which includes a variety of eco-friendly features such as a solar-powered water pump, a young couple who set out to create their dream treehouse retreat in Northern Georgia overlooking the breath-taking Blue Ridge Mountains, and a novice builder attempting to construct a cabin in Vermont’s White River Valley with the harsh winter and his lack of experience making it a challenging build.
The first series of Building Off the Grid is being repeated from the very first episode on the Discovery channel daily from Monday 4 May at 4pm with this series, along with the second, third and sixth currently available on demand.
The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes
If you’re looking for some new-build inspiration, Netflix is streaming both series of The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes. The show, originally broadcast on the BBC, follows award-winning architect Piers Taylor and Men Behaving Badly actress Caroline Quentin as they travel the world touring beautiful and unconventional houses.
These include a V-shaped property in Japan, a contemporary take on the traditional Swiss chalet and a fully automated home in Portugal.
Bob the Builder
Initially running from 1998–2011, Bob the Builder is a British children’s animated television show created by Keith Chapman.
In the original series, Bob was a building contractor, specialising in masonry, along with his colleague Wendy, various neighbours and friends, and their gang of anthropomorphised work-vehicles and equipment.
Each episode would see Bob and his group help with renovations, construction, repairs and other projects as needed. The show emphasises conflict resolution, co-operation, socialisation and various learning skills. Bob’s catchphrase is “Can we fix it?” is also the title of the show’s theme song, which was a million-selling number one hit in the UK.
Three years after the British proprietors of Bob the Builder sold the enterprise to US toy-maker Mattel for $680 million, the show was revamped for a new series with Harry Potter actor Lee Ingleby replacing Neil Morrissey as the voice of Bob, along with Joanne Froggatt and Inbetweeners’ star Blake Harrison voicing Wendy and Scoop respectively. The setting and appearance of the characters also changed, with Bob and his team moving to the bustling metropolis of Spring City.
For those with younger children, or grown ups who are young at heart, Channel 5’s Milkshake have a selection of episodes available to watch on their website. There is also a Bob the Builder channel on YouTube, featuring a selection of episodes and clips.
Build A New Life in the Country
On Amazon Prime Video, Seasons 1–5 of Build A New Life in the Country are currently streaming.
The programme is another presented by architectural designer Charlie Luxton, and follows couples escaping city life in pursuit of new lifestyles and dream homes in the countryside. Despite having modest budgets, the projects featured are both inspiring and architecturally challenging.
Among the construction projects featured in the series are turning a 19th century barn into a four-bedroom family home, a plan to transform a Grade II listed windmill and an 80’s era home into a modern family home, and restoring an 18th century Georgian rectory which requires extensive repairs, including the roof, plumbing and heating.
So that’s my pick of construction themed shows currently being streamed in the UK. Have you got a favourite which I have missed off the list, or are there any from my selection which you have particularly enjoyed? If so, let me know in the comments.
