The Restoration Man
Architect George Clarke travels around Britain meeting people who are trying to restore historically and architecturally significant buildings, many of which are non-residential buildings being converted into homes.
Genre: Reality-TV
Cast:George Clarke
S1.E1 ∙ Bath Lodge
George meets builder Mark Horton who has for years harboured a dream to live in a unique house. With this in mind, he bought the 18th-century folly with plans to convert it himself into a luxurious family home. On the 'Buildings at Risk' register for ten years Bath Lodge is just a derelict shell, with no access road or utilities.
S1.E2 ∙ Llanreithan Church
Architect George Clarke travels around Britain meeting people who are trying to restore historically and architecturally significant buildings, many of which are non-residential buildings being converted into homes.
S1.E3 ∙ Melin Newydd Windmill
Architect George Clarke meets Clive and his wife Jane, who dream of retiring and making their new home in a Grade II listed Anglesey windmill.
S1.E4 ∙ Fortified Towers
Artist Sarah McCombie has owned a Martello tower in Kent since 2004, and ex-army man Barrie Taylor became the custodian of a Scottish castle tower in 2005.
S1.E5 ∙ Field House
Architect George Clarke advises Chris Kelly and Sue Hindle on a project to convert a small cruck-framed house into their first home together. But with four teenage daughters to house, planning permission is needed for a crucial extension to make their dream a reality.
S1.E6 ∙ Thorington Gate Lodge
George Clarke joins former heavyweight boxer, Scott Welch, as he plans to convert Thorington Gate Lodge in Suffolk into a weekend retreat so he can spend more time with his father who lives nearby, despite not having set foot inside the building. It soon becomes clear that Scott has a fight on his hands getting planning permission as the project is set to include an ultra-modern glass extension.
S1.E7 ∙ Coach House
Lisa and Darren Walker have a dream of converting a coach house into a unique home. But it soon becomes clear that the restoration won't be as straightforward as they hoped.
S1.E8 ∙ Ice House
George meets Laird Henderson who for years has wanted to live in a unique home where he can make the most of his lochside surroundings.
S1.E9 ∙ Medieval Hall and Trawsgoed Mansion
George Clarke advises 2 families who have bought nationally important buildings in Wales: Simon Hooper Victoria dreams of converting a Grade I listed medieval hall into a home and the Edwards fell in love with a neglected 70-room mansion.
S2.E1 ∙ Reeds Windmill
After years of living away from their families, Pete and Nikki Fagg moved back down South with the dream of restoring and extending a derelict windmill which had been owned by Pete's family for over 100 years. Locally listed, the windmill has been a roofless ruin since 1915 and its tapering structure overlooks an area of outstanding natural beauty in the heart of Kent.
S2.E2 ∙ Congleton Water Tower
Andy Critchlow surprised his girlfriend Ana Perkins when he bought at auction a stunning, cylindrical Grade II listed Water Tower in Congleton Cheshire without even seeing the inside. Architect George Clarke goes on a historical mission and discovers how this monumental landmark sitting proudly on a hill in Congleton saved the lives of the people it overlooked.
S2.E3 ∙ Gothic Church, Eden Valley
Scientist Phil Evans and his wife Joanne have taken a huge financial gamble and bought a Grade II-listed, gothic revival parish church in the Eden Valley, aiming to turn it into a dream home.
S2.E4 ∙ Engine House, Oxfordshire
George Clarke meets Tim and Emma Verdon, who want to convert an old Victorian brick-works in the heart of rural Oxfordshire into a home.
S2.E5 ∙ Towers Revisit
Architect George Clarke returns to a couple of incomplete tower projects in Kent and Scotland to see what progress has been made in the planned restorations.
S2.E6 ∙ Medieval Hall Revisit
Architect George Clarke revisits Simon Hooper and his partner Victoria who bought a unique Grade I listed Medieval Hall just outside of Cardiff. The project proved to be too huge for Simon in his original timeframe with a £40,000 budget. George Clarke returns to the family to see if they overcame the challenges of restoring a rare building and realised their dream of living in a unique home.
S2.E7 ∙ Settle Water Tower
Mark Rand and his wife Pat are enthusiasts of the controversial Settle-Carlisle railway line and it's their dream to own part of its history. They bought the Victorian Settle Station Water Tower to convert and live in as their retirement home. Sitting beside the station in what is now an industrial estate, the building has not been in use since the 1940s.
S2.E8 ∙ Chapel, Pembrokeshire Revisit
George revisits Gareth and his family in their restored Victorian Welsh chapel. Is church living all it's cracked up to be?
S2.E9 ∙ Bathlodge, Ormskirk Revisit
George Clarke returns to Ormskirk after two years to see how builder Mark Horton and his family are doing living in their dream home - a former 18th century folly which he restored after he found it on the Buildings at Risk Register.
S2.E10 ∙ Ice House Revisit
Architect George Clarke returns to a remote 19th-century Scottish ice house after two years to catch up with its owner, Laird Henderson. George previously helped to realise an ambitious glass extension, but after budget problems and a clash with building control, will Laird have moved on and built the idyllic loch-side hideaway to match?
S2.E11 ∙ St John's Church Revisit
George Clarke catches up with Joanne McGirr and Phil Evans, who risked all to restore a Victorian Gothic church at the foot of the Pennines. Last time George saw them they were facing the decision of whether they should sell the project.
S2.E12 ∙ Oast House
James and Lois Denning inherited a historic estate which has been in James' family for the last 234 years. The castle and stately home that used to belong to his family have been given to the National Trust, so they've decided to convert a stunning oast house into the core house on the estate. Architect George Clarke is on hand to advise them with the restoration.
S2.E13 ∙ Berneray Church, Outer Hebrides
Artist Keith McIntyre and his wife Sheena bought a listed, Thomas Telford-designed church in the remote island of Berneray in the Outer Hebrides planning to convert it into a holiday home and artist's studio.
S2.E14 ∙ Longhurst Lodge, Surrey
Theatre producer Vanessa Ford Robbins and her partner Nik Huddy renovate a tiny Victorian gatehouse nestled on the boundaries of a country estate in Surrey.
S2.E15 ∙ Thrum Mill
Dave and Margaret Hedley came across a picture of an old watermill that had stood abandoned and uncared for the last 50 years and decided that they were going to be the ones to bring it back to life. They pour their heart and souls into the restoration. Architect George Clarke goes back to his roots in the north east and helps them every step of the way but, will they ever achieve their dream?
S2.E16 ∙ Pig Barn, Nottinghamshire
David and Judith Ward want to be nearer to their grandchildren. Not fazed by the challenges of restoration, they've bought a dilapidated pig barn close to their daughter's farmhouse and they start the process of transforming it into their 3 bedroom home. George Clarke has been giving advice, but will their hopes for a happy retirement ever become reality?
S3.E1 ∙ Pumping Station
Alison and Matthew Grey, two designers form London, love industrial buildings and have purchased a pumping station, intending on turning it into a design haven.
S3.E2 ∙ Flint Mill
Alan Appleby and his wife Dora might be restoration experts, but they've never taken on a project as ambitious as this. They've saved a flint mill in Stone, Staffordshire that's on the verge of falling down. Alan is a building surveyor, and shouldn't have a problem fixing the massive structural damage.
S3.E3 ∙ Fisherman's Church
Having never lived together before, architect Neil Worrell and his partner Jackie Robinson decided to cement their relationship by purchasing a forgotten church in the picture perfect fishing town of Brixham in Devon.
S3.E4 ∙ Welsh School
Recession-hit builders Ian and Jayne Hall Edwards face a massive battle converting a huge derelict Victorian school in a Welsh hillside village in Carmarthenshire into both a place of business and home. Having failed to win a grant to help finance the build, they are left battling through harsh winters while living in a caravan on-site, and with their family business hanging in the balance.
S3.E5 ∙ Pig Barn
Marco and Kath Walker take over a pair of Grade II listed 17th and 18th-century cow barns from their local farmer in Wellington, Herefordshire. The barns are tumbling down, the couple has their two young children in tow, they've never done anything like this before and are complete restoration novices, and the project is beset with problems from the start.
S3.E6 ∙ RAF Bunker, Nottinghamshire
Furniture maker Jamie Brown has big ideas about turning a colossal 15,000 sq. foot RAF bunker from World War II into his new home. With its fascinating history and jaw-dropping engineering, George helps Jamie tackle this huge undertaking.
S3.E7 ∙ Telford Church Revisit
George Clarke revisits Keith and Sheena McIntyre who struggled through terrible weather conditions, and a challenge to integrate with the local community, in order to restore a stunning but isolated Telford Church. Using inheritance from his late father, artist Keith McIntyre and his wife Sheena bought this Grade B listed, Thomas Telford designed church in the remote island of Berneray in the Outer Hebrides. Keith and Sheena dream of converting the church into a holiday home and artist's studio where they can bring their art students and musician friends to be inspired by the amazing light and rugged, desolate landscape. They face extreme weather conditions and keeping the neighbors onside, whilst trying to manage the build from 400 miles way. A year later George Clarke returns to find out if they've managed to transform the Church into a working artist's studio, what life is like in the new community, and to see if they've been successful in winning a prestigious Royal Institute of Architects award.
S3.E8 ∙ Thrum Water Mill Revist
George returns to Thrum Mill to meet Dave and Margaret Heldey who have battled through flooding and serious illness to restore one of Northumberland's most stunning but abandoned water mills.
S3.E9 ∙ Settle Water Tower Revisit
Back in North Yorkshire architect George Clarke checks in with Mark and Pat Rand who previously restored a railway water tower into a unique living space.
S3.E11 ∙ Braxted School
Jim and Bee Goody see a derelict village school in Essex as their golden ticket to escaping the suburbs and creating their dream home in the country. But unable to sell their own house, they take a heart-stopping gamble in buying the Victorian school on a bridging loan - with weekly interest payments of £400!
S3.E12 ∙ HMS Owl
A couple take on a very unusual restoration project, renovating an air traffic control tower at a World War II airfield. George Clarke tracks down some veterans who trained for combat missions at the airfield.
S3.E13 ∙ Pannal Water Tower
Colin and Majid Nadry purchase an unique piece of property in the form of an unusual water tower in the village of Pannal, Harrogate. The couple must pay £70,000 to purchase land to connect the tower to the road.
S3.E14 ∙ Longhurst Lodge Revisit
When Nik Huddy and Vanessa Ford Robbins stumbled upon this overgrown 19th-century gatehouse, they saw an opportunity to express their love of arts and crafts in restoring this tiny cottage to its former glory.
S3.E15 ∙ Welsh School Revisit
Ian and Jayne Hall Edwards bought a large derelict Victorian school in the valleys of West Wales with the hope of combining a family home and a new eco-building training business under one roof.
S7.E4 ∙ Church Hall Barn
George provides commentary and progress updates as an artist couple struggle to convert a centuries old Scottish church in the frigid Northlands into a comfortable home and studio.
