TV presenter Nick Knowles and the DIY SOS crew have teamed up with BBC Radio 2 presenters in aid of BBC Children in Need this week – but he has revealed the special collaboration didn’t go as smoothly as planned.
The special episode, airing on BBC One tomorrow (Wednesday 16th November), will show how Knowles along with Zoe Ball, Jo Whiley, Sara Cox, DJ Spoony, Trevor Nelson, Rylan and Scott Mills helped transformed a centre for The Getaway Girls choir in Leeds.
The team managed to successfully revamp the centre, which provides support to girls and young women across the city. However, speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Knowles reveals he had to adjust plans following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II on 8th September 2022.
“We tried to do what a construction company would do in six months in about nine days and in order for that to work everything has to fit together like a perfectly organised jigsaw. And then of course, Her Majesty the Queen passed away, and of course we had the funeral which meant that we had to give people the opportunity to grieve.
“We showed due respect and [on] the day of the funeral massively reduced what we did to let people watch [it]. We’ve worked with the royals before and they would absolutely have wanted us to finish this facility for a charity as important as The Getaway Girls. So, we got the job done, but it did overrun.”
Instead of nine days, the DIY SOS team managed to complete the job in 13 days, which is a massive achievement regardless.
Knowles continued: “When you’re trying to do six months’ work in nine days there are always surprises, but the main thing that caused the difficulty obviously was the sad passing of the Queen, which meant everything was all thrown up in the air.
“But actually, we’re still fairly happy! 13 days to do a six month job is still fairly miraculous, even if it was meant to be done in nine days.”
The DIY SOS Children in Need special will air on BBC One on November 16th at 9pm.
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