Nick Knowles reveals DIY SOS is in big trouble and could be axed by the BBC
Presenter says BBC budget and staff issues means his show may collapse by the end of the year
NICK Knowles has sent out a distress signal about his BBC show DIY SOS: The Big Build, saying it is in serious danger of getting the chop.
The presenter says budgetary and staff issues, as well as the the broadcaster's own agenda, mean it could be curtains for the programme as early as the end of 2017.
Nick, 54, even suggested the hard work done by those working on major building projects for the programme is now "damaging to their health."
He admitted: "We have another six to do at the end of this year and that might be the end of it then."
Explaining what the problems are, Nick said: “We have to do so many hours outside of what the BBC will allow us.
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"Everyone is knackered at the end of it and we haven’t been told about a recommission for the next series.
“Despite its success, a lot of people are thinking about whether it should go on."
Adding an extra dig to the Beeb, he added: "DIY SOS is multi-cultural and regional and it gets into some of the more working class areas, which the BBC doesn’t always get into.”
Nick claims that since the show began in 1999, with Lowri Turner as co-host, £15m of homes and facilities have been constructed — notably the 25 homes in Manchester that volunteers, and Princes William and Harry, renovated in 2015.
But while he's "proud" of everything they've achieved, he thinks there's a lot at stake now filming is so tough.
He added: “In the end it is easier for a lot of the production crew to go and work on something which isn’t so damaging to their health.”
After splitting from wife Jessica, Nick says he plans to open his own resort in the Maldives where he's lost over a stone while recovering from stress.
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