I can’t wait to put on kiltandhaveapintwith my mate in Aberdeen
BBC host Knowles tells of his favourite places in Scotland and how he wants future shows to utilise the community spirit of lockdown
BY RICK FULTON r.fulton@dailyrecord.co.uk
– spending so much time with my five-year-old and how most people have looked after each other and remained so positive. I’ve loved seeing that in so many communities.”
Of course, Nick is all about communities and his BBC show DIY SOS has been helping and transforming the lives of the most vulnerable since 1999.
Nick is back on our screens every weekday with the second series of BBC One’s Home Is Where the Heart Is but is also hoping he can get DIY SOS back up and running.
With restrictions being lifted on construction sites in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK, he is hoping to resume filming of the popular show.
But he said: “We load up to 150 workers into a standard threebedroom semi on a normal build.
“That’s not possible so we’re looking at how to get around that as there is such desperate need with the people we build for, plus it’s exemplary as communities working together has been the key positive thing for me in lockdown.”
Nick used his contacts to help Captain Tom Moore during the OAP’s incredible £30million fundraiser for the NHS that gripped the nation. Nick arranged for a fence to be built around the front of Tom’s property so his family felt “more secure”.
He said: “This wonderful chap did something that united a country at a time of real difficulty.”
Nick has also been writing a stage play following the 2016 film he co-wrote, Golden Years, which was big in, er, China.
Nick said: “I’ve been writing a play. I ran it past the guy who produced my last film. He likes it a lot and wants to make it into a film.
“Golden Years did very well in China, weirdly enough. People don’t remember the name but vaguely remember the story – a bunch of pensioners can’t afford to live on their pensions so they combine a caravan tour of National Trust properties with robbing banks along the way.”
While Nick admits he is terrible at DIY, he has always been a Jack of all trades and two years ago went on I’m a Celebrity – and attracted attention when he showered.
His red “budgie smugglers” became almost as iconic as Kylie’s gold hotpants and last year he sold them at auction, raising £2000 to put towards a life-saving operation for a teenager from Bath.
But he has mixed memories about his jungle experience. Nick added: “I said I’d never take part in any reality show but they kept on upping the money and for a lad off a council estate in west London, it would have been unfair to my family and children to not do it.
Nick’s current TV project, Home Is Where the Art Is, was filmed before lockdown and involves the presenter challenging artists to create art for people they have never met.
He said: “Often people enjoy art at school but drift away from it so it’s nice to let people see what is out there and affordable – and for people to see it can be a career option.”
The second series has dozens of artists creating work. The standout for Nick was, “A lifesize wolf entirely made out of wire.”
He said: “I would buy about one in four of the pieces but I live in a small cottage with no room to put it all.”
Home Is Where the Art Is, today on BBC One at 3.45pm.