‘It’s the only show I’d return to TV for!’ Carol Smillie reveals she’d happily revive role on Changing Rooms amid reports it’s coming back after 16 years
Carol Smillie has revealed she’s willing to return to Changing Rooms, amid reports the classic home makeover show is returning to screens after 16 years.
It has been claimed that TV bosses are eyeing Carole, 58, and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, 55, to bring their property sprucing magic back to homes on a tight budget once again, with the show reportedly moving from BBC1 to Channel 4.
And in an interview with The Sun, Carol said: ‘It was definitely the favourite show of my career, without a doubt. It would be the only show I’d come back to telly for.’
Happy to return: Carol Smillie has revealed she’s willing to return to Changing Rooms, amid reports the classic home makeover show is returning to screens after 16 years
She added of some of the show’s makeover reveals: ‘It was the first time we’d had car-crash telly, when you would be sitting there with a cushion in front of your eyes, saying, “Oh no!” It was sometimes like watching a disaster in slow motion.
‘As a nation, we like to snoop around other people’s houses and that had never been done on TV before.’
Changing Rooms aired on the BBC1 between 1996 and 2004, and has been credited with whetting the viewing public’s appetite for property-themed programming and even unscripted TV as a whole.
Wanted: Bosses are also said to be eager to sign up Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, who served as a designer on the show until taking over hosting duties after Carol’s 2003 departure
And The Sun reported that the show could be revived by Channel 4, with a source saying: ‘Changing Rooms was something of a phenomenon, spawning a long line of copycat makeover shows and it still retains a cult following.
‘Not only did it spawn a long line of copycat makeover shows, it still retains a cult following among a whole generation of fans. C4 execs would like to tap back into some of that telly magic and exploit the current nostalgia for bygone shows.’
A representative for Channel 4 told MailOnline: ‘We are exploring the idea but nothing is confirmed.’
Carol presented the hugely popular show from 1996 until 2003, while Laurence graduated from designer to host until the programme’s end in 2004.
Show: (L-R) Laurence and his wife Jackie, Carol, Linda Barker and her husband Chris in 2002
In a 2017 interview for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine, Scottish TV personality Carol described the show as ‘the best TV experience of [her] career’.
She said: ‘In 1996 I was the original presenter of BBC2’s Changing Rooms – it was one of the first reality shows and is credited with starting the DIY craze of the late ’90s.
‘It was the best TV experience of my career – we were a happy bunch who went into it naively but came out the other end as household names with a BAFTA nomination and invitations to both Downing Street and Buckingham Palace.
‘It was the stuff of dreams, and all from watching paint dry!’
Back in 2018, Carol surprised fans when she popped up on The Voice, where she and her husband Ken were seen supporting their 20-year-old daughter Jodie Knight.
Despite her performing a rousing rendition of the Goo Goo Dolls’ hit Iris, the then-teen was left disappointed when none of the judges turned around for her.
Carol, who also hosted the National Lottery, said she was nervous of her daughter’s wish to become a singer.
She said during her appearance on the show: ‘I am so excited for her, but I’m apprehensive I suppose because you want to protect her as a parent.’
‘I would never hold her back as a parent as both of us feel something good will come of it,’ she added.
Original: Scottish Carol, now 58, presented the hugely popular show from 1996 until 2003