There’s a bit of a nosey neighbour in all of us – and the show knows it

WHAT is it about this open-planned, large-windowed, notions filled show that has made it so addictive to Irish viewers?

The nation is obsessed with RTÉ’s ‘Room To Improve’. With regular average ratings of more than 600,000 viewers, station bosses have green-lit the makeover programme for a 12th series.

Architect Dermot Bannon is apparently unable to put a foot wrong.

This is despite the fact that he never seems to waver from the ‘open-plan, big glass box at the rear’ design – which he applies to almost every semi-D.

On a practical level, Bannon almost always goes overbudget when it comes to his elaborate designs – much to the despair of his quantity surveyor, Lisa O’Brien.

The show itself has retained the same format for years.

Couple/family pine for an extension to their home. They’ve lived here for a number of years, but it feels tired.

Enter ‘starchitect’ Bannon and his visions. Marble worktops. Subway tiles. Formica, for god’s sake. The homeowners try to reign in the notions... and the budget. There are a few hairy moments with builders and deadlines and budgets. But ultimately the final product is outstanding. Neighbours and family are invited over to gawk. All is forgiven and Dermot was right all along.

The programme consistently hits the right notes. Perhaps, at a very basic level, it feeds our basic sense of nosiness.

Most of us know someone who knows someone on ‘Room To Improve’ – and who doesn’t love having a peek at the neighbour’s new extension?

It also gives us an insight into what changes we could make to our home, give or take a spare €200,000 or so.

Perhaps we truly see ourselves in the homeowners – a proud homeowner who wanted a cabinet to contain her china, a pet lover willing to shell out €1,500 for a dog-flap or a couple obsessed with the positioning of the kitchen sink.

Then of course there’s the ultimate appeal of Bannon himself. With his geeky charm, his grand designs and his inability to ever blow a gasket with the client, no matter how outlandish their demands, Dermot proves one of the show’s biggest selling points.

Disputes regularly arise as the clients engage in a futile tussle – but there’s always a solution.

We all know that there will only ever be one winner in the battle of the bricks.