DIY SOS

"The Isle of Sheppey in Kent is home to an extraordinary family - two boys and two girls brought together by two dads. Head teacher Garry and social carer Kyle first fostered then adopted four vulnerable children, three with complex special needs, because they wanted to give them the best life possible. Unfortunately their tired, crammed three-bed bungalow now threatens their family's future.\n\nThey desperately need space and dignity, but the only thing to do is to knock the entire house down and start again. Enter Nick Knowles and the team, who are taking on a DIY SOS first - and one of their most ambitious home builds ever. The team are going to demolish the bungalow and in just nine days build an entirely new bespoke five-bedroom home for this inspiring family. It is all thanks to the amazing goodwill, hard work and generosity of the local community and trades."

"Kidney failure has meant that midwife Sascha has to endure intensive dialysis at hospital just to stay alive. This intense dialysis for hours on end, five days a week, places her body under immense stress with the constant threat of life-risking blood clots. If this continues, Sascha, a mother to four children, has a life expectancy of just a few years.\n\nHowever, Sascha could do self-dialysis daily from her home, and the increase in frequency and the decrease in intensity would mean her life expectancy and lifestyle would improve dramatically. So that is where DIY SOS and the generous volunteers and trades of Billy's home turf, Welwyn Garden City, step up to help one of their own.\n\nIn an emotionally charged episode, Sascha's family home is completely renovated and extended to include a dedicated home-dialysis room for Sascha, which offers her a lifeline and extra years with her loving family."

"In Shropshire, three amazing schoolchildren and an energetic head teacher inspire the DIY SOS team and hundreds of volunteers to help 12-year-old Matthew return home from hospital for the first time in three years, after suffering cancer and a stroke.\n\nMatthew has yearned to return home, but as his house is completely unsuitable for his complex medical needs and equipment, he is stuck in hospital. His schoolmates fundraised wherever they could and campaigned to get Matthew home. Now the DIY SOS team join their crusade. With a Doctor Who-inspired interior design, enormous community spirit and the power of friendship, this is a DIY SOS Big Build to inspire."

"Twenty-four-year-old Ryan has spent the last five years in a hospital room, 50 miles away from home and his loving family. At the time, Dave and Rachel were happily living in a small three-bedroom house in south Bristol, filled to the brim with their four kids. Then the family's busy lives came to a screeching halt.\n\nAfter serious headaches five years ago, Ryan was rushed in for an emergency operation where doctors discovered he had a blocked ventricle. A CT scan revealed that the build-up of fluid and pressure had caused brain damage. Ryan had lost control of his breathing and swallowing and was partially paralysed. He was transferred to the nearest specialist neurological unit, 50 miles away. Five years later, he's still there and his loving mother Rachel catches public transport for five hours every day to visit Ryan. If the family doesn't get this work done, Ryan will remain in hospital. They need the DIY SOS team and the generous volunteers of Bristol help to get Ryan home."

"DIY SOS is back on veteran street in Manchester to build the final home on the road for a decorated former soldier and his young family.\n\nTwo years ago, with the help of Prince William and Prince Harry, DIY SOS launched their most ambitious project yet - transforming a derelict street into a vibrant community for veterans and local people, creating new homes and a veterans' support centre.\n\nNow, with the project almost complete, Nick Knowles and the team return to build the last remaining home for amputee and single dad Simon Flores, whose foot was blown off by a roadside bomb during a patrol in Iraq."

"The team descend on Swansea to build a centre and supported housing for young people in care and leaving care. This special episode shares the stories from some of Wales's most vulnerable young people as well as the founder of the Roots Foundation Wales, a charity part-funded by BBC Children in Need that supports young people in and leaving care."

"Amanda, mother of four and wife to local builder Vic, was training on her bicycle for an iron man when her brakes failed on Bury Hill, West Sussex. Travelling at 40 mph, she lost control and smashed into a signpost which catapulted her into bushes. The enormous impact meant Amanda broke 11 bones, punctured a lung and snapped her collarbone and her back. On arrival at A&E, she was told that she had been left paralysed. With husband Vic now tending to the four children, Amanda spent the next six months at Stoke Mandeville spinal unit. Even during her darkest days at the unit, she would help to feed other patients to keep busy and to remind herself that - in her mind - it could have been worse for her. After two gruelling 12-hour back operations, she returned home in a wheelchair. Her home was now unsuitable, so that is where the DIY SOS volunteers come to the family's rescue."

"On 22 March 2017, 35-year-old PC Kris was returning from a ceremony to honour officers who deal with public order issues where he was awarded for his exceptional work as a police liaison officer in the Metropolitan Police. What should have been a happy day shortly turned to horror as Kris became a victim of the terrorist attack on Westminster Bridge in London.\n\nThe horrific attack left five people dead, including police officer Keith Palmer, and many more with very serious injuries, including Kris.\n\nMonths after the attack, Kris resides in Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Aylesbury, undergoing daily routines to help with his rehabilitation, unable to return to his north London home as it is now inaccessible to him and unsuitable for his rehabilitation. Without big changes, Kris can't get home, so that is where DIY SOS step in, with hundreds of generous volunteers, to help this injured police officer get home to his loving family."

"In West Bromwich, Crystal Chambers, a mother of two young children, visited her local GP and hospital on numerous occasions over two years and was left undiagnosed before finally being admitted. Upon admission to hospital, Crystal was suddenly given the devastating news that she had advanced stomach cancer, which had spread to her spine. Tragically, Crystal passed away a few weeks later. Her children were left potentially without a home as well as a mother.\n\nIt was therefore left to Crystal's mother Sandra, who has dedicated her entire life to working with families in crisis, and Crystal's 19-year-old brother, to take the children into their tiny two-bedroom home.\n\nWith a family stuck in a tiny home, unable to deal with their grief, the team and generous West Bromwich volunteers step in to drastically improve this family's home and guarantee that Sandra can keep the family together."

"This week, Nick Knowles's DIY SOS team, the flamboyant designer Laurence Llewelyn Bowen and volunteers pitch up in Avening, in the idyllic Cotswolds, to help project manager Ben, whose life was changed in a split second by a freak accident on holiday.\n\nIn April 2016, whilst holidaying in Cyprus with his partner Ella and daughters Iris and Olivia, Ben slipped and fell head-first into the shallow end of a pool, breaking his neck in three places. After months of treatment in Cyprus and Germany, he was finally flown back to the UK, where the Salisbury Spinal Unit made amazing progress with him over the next 12 months.\n\nDespite his life-changing injuries there is hope: if Ben could return home, he would be reunited with his family and could even work from home again as a project manager. The DIY SOS team are joining forces with this generous community to get the build finished."

"Nick Knowles and the DIY SOS volunteers help Simon Dobbin in Mildenhall, Suffolk - a loving father, husband and football fan whose life suddenly changed forever in March 2015. After supporting his football team at an away game, he was set upon by a gang of men in a brutal and unprovoked attack. Tragically, the vicious 90-second attack had left him permanently brain damaged, paralysed and unable to walk or talk, needing round-the-clock care. After many months in hospital Simon is finally home, with Nicole as his full-time carer. Simon's current house is now unfit for purpose - it is inhibiting his rehabilitation and a massive strain on the family's life, and so that's where the DIY SOS volunteers step up and help this family in need. Interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen adds a truly unique and hilarious addition to the kitchen design, and the local RAF assist."

"In Hessle, near Hull, the DIY SOS team help roofer Darren and his three sons, including 17-year-old Oliver, who is severely disabled."

"In Torquay, the team help multiple sclerosis sufferer Stuart, his daughter Lauren and his mother, Lin, who cares for Stuart despite being completely blind."

"In Plymouth, Nick Knowles, his DIY SOS team and hundreds of Devon volunteers help the Morfey family."

"The team help the family of a 28-year-old with cerebral palsy."

"The DIY SOS team and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen head to Bolton to help the Taylor-Mann family, whose nine-year-old son William has severe autism."

"Nick Knowles and the team create a safe and inspiring home space for the family of a two-year-old with a very rare lung condition."

"Nick Knowles, Arit Anderson and a band of volunteers renovate a home that has been the site of two fatal tragedies."

"Nick Knowles, his trusty DIY SOS team and hundreds of kind volunteers renovate the home of three orphaned boys in Cornwall."

"The team head to Weston-super-Mare to help the Sweet family, whose three children have all been diagnosed with multiple rare illnesses and will soon be full-time wheelchair users."

"The team head to Devon to help a family whose daily four-hour round trips for life-saving dialysis treatment for their girls is taking a heavy toll on family life."

"For the first time ever, the DIY SOS team head to Bangor in Northern Ireland, the childhood hometown of our build manager Mark Miller, to help the McCreight family."

"Midwife Lindsey married ex-Royal Engineer Shaun in 2019. Lindsey had two children from a previous marriage and then had two boys with Shaun. In the summer of 2021, they began to extend their house, with a local builder working with them to put in the foundations, walls and roof, and to get the extension up to first fix. The plan was for Shaun to finish the build himself."

"Jordan Hutchison is an inspirational teenager. He has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, but this has not stopped him defying expectations and raising huge sums of money for charity. He currently lives with his parents, Jackie and Colin, and his siblings at his grandmother's house. He sleeps on an air bed, while the parents share rooms with the younger children. The family home is a shell after a series of building issues meant the family ran out of money with no way of finishing the work."

"Nick Knowles and the team travel to Southmead in Bristol, where a charity-owned adventure playground known as the Ranch has fallen into disrepair and is now rendered unfit for purpose. However, that is about to change as local volunteers and tradespeople help to reinvigorate the site, creating a recording studio and forest school to sit alongside the playground and keep the kids happy for years to come."

"The team head to Northumberland to help a loving family with three generations in need of care for complex health conditions. Their house needs to be completely redesigned."

"The team help a charity in Stoke to create a community centre and garden. The build turns into a battle against the elements, with three of the worst storms to hit Britain in recent years."

"Nick Knowles and the team are in the Gloucestershire village of Chorlton Kings, where former car mechanic Peter needs help building an extension to the family house for his wife Sarah and daughter Suzanne, who both have a long-term genetic disorder that affects muscle function. Peter also looks after his elder brother Steve. Peter started the work to adapt to everyone's growing needs but the pressure of looking after the family and completing the work has proved too much, and now his own health has taken a turn for the worse."

"The team are in Leicester to help seven-year-old Isla, who longs for independence. Everything must be made bespoke, and fitting it all in will be a huge challenge."

"In South Wales, Nick and the team help Dan and Anna after a freak accident. Now a wheelchair user, Dan needs his home transformed to support his rehab and his goal to walk again."

"Eight-year-old Rafi was left with brain damage after falling seriously ill. Now he is home after a year in hospital, but his house isn’t suitable - the family needs the team’s help."

"In south London, Nick and the team help five siblings who recently lost their mum. The two oldest, Somer and Samuel, are doing their best, but the family is struggling in a cramped home."

"Nick Knowles and the team, joined by the Gladiators, build a new youth club in Beverley – giving local young people a warm, safe place to call their own."

"In Glasgow, the team help Raymond and his children after the loss of mum, Gill, transforming their home into an accessible space where wheelchair user Nell can gain independence."