Channel 4 daytime gets set for The Great House Giveaway

16 September 2020

Channel 4 has commissioned a pioneering new daytime series which will offer two strangers the opportunity to get their foot on the property ladder.  

 

Presented by Simon O’Brien (Find It, Fix It, Flog It; Lost and Found), The Great House Giveaway is a game changing property format, where in each programme two people who have never met and have never owned a home before will be given a lump sum to buy a property at auction. The pair will then have six months to revive the property into a habitable and desirable home.  If they don’t sell – the house goes back to auction.

 

Simon, a successful property developer himself, will be on hand to offer tips and tricks to help each partnership of novice property developers have the best shot of making a sale and coming away with a profit. Any profit they make from auction, they will get to keep, helping them towards their dream of owning their own home one day.

 

Presenter Simon O’Brien comments: “I’m really excited to be fronting this hugely ambitious series for Channel 4. There are loads of rundown properties across the UK with huge potential for first time buyers ready to be brought back to life with some hard work and imagination. I know from experience that renovation can be both challenging and rewarding and I can’t wait to see what our budding developers achieve in their six months.”

 

The 20 x 60 series is made by Welsh independent production company Chwarel. Sioned Morys is the Executive Producer, Josh Elliot is the Series Producer, Series Directors are Michael Barrett, Imogen Willcocks and Nia Dryhurst. The series was commissioned by former Head of Daytime David Sayer with Kate Thomas, Commissioning Editor for Daytime.

 

Kate Thomas, Commissioning Editor, Channel 4 Daytime comments: “For many people in the UK, owning their own property feels like an impossible daydream. In The Great House Giveaway we are giving some of those people the potentially life-changing opportunity to get their foot on the property ladder, but only if they work hard and work together.  This is an extraordinarily bold and ambitious concept, and it’s been pulled off brilliantly by Welsh indie Chwarel, who have been impressively nimble in getting these shows edited and delivered safely.”

 

Sioned Morys Executive Producer at Chwarel adds: “Channel 4 gave us the space and opportunity to get this format right.  Over the past year – we have bought and sold 20 houses – in very challenging conditions. We have edited the majority of the series during the Coronavirus pandemic, putting in place remote systems to enable us to do so when we knew that lockdown was a possibility. It’s been brilliant working with Kate and her team – long may it continue.”

 

The Great House Giveaway will begin on Channel 4 Daytime later this year.

 

Notes to Editors

Chwarel is an independent production company founded in 2002 by Sioned Morys. During that time, Chwarel has produced TV and radio content for BBC Wales, S4C, Channel 4, BBC Radio Wales/Cymru.

The budget for each house purchase was provided by auction finance specialist Together.

For more information contact: Kate Conway, or lou@plankpr.com