I think we can all agree that, over the past 25 years or so, Channel 4 has been the market leader when it comes to property television. Come on, just admit it. Do you really want to do this? Do you want to bring up DIY SOS, again? Do you want to fight with me over the magician-glam of Homes Under the Hammer’s Martin Roberts? You do not. The best property TV in this country has consistently revolved round the holy trinity of McCloud, Allsopp and Spencer, and is always best when showing wide-eyed middle-class cash buyers pour concrete in such a way that their marriage nearly ends. So it is, so it always was.
What has messed with this system is “the real world”, which, if you’ve dabbled anywhere near the property market in the last few years, you will know is very bad. It is close to impossible for a generation of young people to even buy a starter home. That ripple effect is working itself up the age and income brackets. It affects rents and postcodes and how close communities can be. Property TV has to adapt to a world where the idea of even owning property is now absurdly aspirational. As a result, the teatimely hour-longs need to lower their sights from “This is a showstopper foyer!” to “Yeah maybe that bit under the stairs could be a bedroom”. And so: Worst House on the Street (Tuesday, 8pm, Channel 4).
