Now I have to say, I’m very bad at DIY but my husband is worse. He once repaired his best mate’s tumble dryer and it then set his clothes on fire. He ‘mended’ our toaster and it too set on fire. Vis a vis decorating, he wallpapered our living room while I was out at work and when I came home, I pointed out the pattern was upside down. And he laid a carpet in the same room – different day though – and it ended up in about 5 different pieces all held together with tape… not good.

So whenever possible I try to watch the like of DIY SOS and I try to get him to as well. In fact, I love them all.

However, my most favourite show is Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. It’s not really a show where you can emulate much of what they do – unless you want to demolish a special someone’s house and rebuild it for them – but for unbridled enthusiasm and a good cry when the recipient sees their new home, you can’t beat Extreme Makeover.

It’s hosted by Ty Pennington who is the human equivalent of a Jack Russell on speed. In case you’ve never seen it, the premise of the show is that in each episode, a family that’s faced some sort of recent or ongoing hardship – such as bereavement or a life-threatening illness – is profiled. The show’s producers, Endemol, work with local construction contractors and various companies in the building trade to do a complete makeover of the family’s home.

That includes a makeover of the interior, exterior and landscaping of gardens etc., which is all done in seven days while the family is on vacation. If the house is beyond repair, the team replaces it entirely. The show’s producers and crew film the makeover but don’t pay for it because all the materials and labour are donated by well-wishers in the community.

As well as Ty running around screaming “Yeah! We can do this” there’s a host of other experts such as Paul and Paige who do carpentry, Tanya and Michael who do interior design and Eduardo who does landscaping. They are all super enthusiastic and gung ho God Bless America-ness abounds, and it makes for great watching.

Here’s a clip that demonstrates how mad not only the EM team are but also the recipient families…

Brilliant stuff. To be fair, they do some spectacular makeovers and often do in fact rebuild someone’s house from scratch. They usually include special features for the family members too. For instance, if one of the kids of the house is into Barbie, they’ll make their bedroom entirely Barbie themed and add a Barbie laptop and widescreen Barbie TV and Barbie surround sound… you get the picture.

It’s well worth a watch and the Christmas episodes are always especially heart-warming and gooey. They always try to find a family who have an ill child at Christmas which I suspect is to emulate the Scrooge story, complete with poverty stricken parents and a Tiny Tim.

If you’re now intrigued, you can see an episode tonight at 7:00pm on UKTV Style. In it, Ty Pennington, the team and the entire community of El Segundo, California rebuild the home of police officer Bruce Lewis, his cancer-stricken wife, Paulita, and their children. Their roof caved in following heavy rain and destroyed everything they own. Tissues at the ready!