Kirstie aims to make it a crafty Christmas for one and all. . .

There’s a double dose of Kirstie Allsopp coming to our screens. She tells Georgia Humphreys why everyone should seek solace in crafting

Kirstie Allsopp hangs up on me not once, but twice, during our phone interview. The first time, the London-born TV presenter, 49, has another call come through, and she rings me back two minutes later, flustered.

“So sorry Georgia, that was a No Caller ID call, which always freaks me out! I’m like, ‘Oh god, what’s wrong, is it their school?” babbles the star, who has two children with her partner Ben Andersen, a property developer (she is also stepmum to Ben’s two children from a previous relationship).

Not long after, I hear her kids in the background and, following some exasperated-sounding words from Allsopp, she’s suddenly gone again…

“The joys of working from home,” vents the star when she returns. She explains how her kids – Bay, who was born in 2006, and Oscar, who arrived in 2008 – are off school today.

“One of them was violently sick at 1 am this morning. The other one, there’s nothing wrong with him, but you just can’t [send him to school] because it’s irresponsible.

So, yes; you could say chatting about Allsopp’s two new TV series didn’t exactly go smoothly.

But I don’t mind one bit, because not only she is hugely apologetic, she’s great value, whizzing between all sorts of topics; hair masks, Coronavirus, the perils of social media…

As for her TV work, fans of the crafting queen – most famous for her property programmes with Phil Spencer, including Location, Location, Location – will be delighted to hear we’re getting a double dose of her Christmas cheer on Channel 4 this year.

In Kirstie’s Christmas: Quick and Easy Craft – a one-off programme airing at primetime – she is joined by Spencer, to create some cocktail magic.

Meanwhile, her sister, florist Sofie, helps with some festive floral displays, and baker Nancy Birtwhistle reveals some of her favourite recipes, tips and tricks.

“We made that in February and now, of course, we’re thrilled, because we have got this one very sparkly, very warm show where everyone is incredibly relaxed and it’s just very genuine,” notes Allsopp, who’s strikingly posh (her father is British peer and businessman Charles Henry Allsopp, 6th Baron Hindlip; her mum, Lady Fiona Hindlip, died from breast cancer in 2014).

Her other show airing this month is Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas, a daytime series which will air Monday to Fridays for two weeks.

She is once again joined by Spencer – who tries his hand at ice sculpting, woodworking, and metalwork – and it also features a daily competition in which we see four of the country’s best crafters battle it her exasperation as she goes on to out to be crowned champion. describe in length just how cold it

The series was filmedwas.inearly

October, andWAllsopp recalls how hen we chat, it’s a few days they had to “jump through masbefore nationwide lockdown meassive hoops” because of Covid-19 ures are re-introduced in England. restrictions – including filming in Allsopp isn’t afraid to share her an open-sided marquee, which was opinions on Covid-19 on her Twit“cold and damp”. ter account; recently her focus has

I suggest it must have been frusbeen on the impact it’s having on trating to not be able to make TV children’s and adolescents’ mental in the normal way right now, and health, and issues of isolation for although Allsopp is a little careful new mums. at first with her reply, it’s clear she She does sometimes face a agrees. backlash for her tweets. When, for

“How it works with filming craft example, back in the summer, she is that it’s often very detailed on suggested that office workers who the small stuff, so I will be working are working from home because on something, or the crafter will of the coronavirus pandemic need be working on something, and the to “prove their worth” to employcameraman will get very close. And ers in order to keep their jobs, she that’s not possible with social disfound herself defending and extancing.” plaining her comments.

She continues: “It was obviousShe’s also made headlines for ly very, very different and quite… clashing with Good Morning Britslow. And, er, there were times ain’s Piers Morgan on the social when you just wanted to scream.” media site too.

Animated Allsopp doesn’t hide “Ooh yes, we don’t talk about