A Place in the Sun's Scarlette Douglas left alarmed over chilling collection in unsellable house
Property development duo Scarlette and Stuart Douglas have issued some advice to homeowners in unsellable homes in their latest show, Can't Sell Must Sell. However, one chilling discovery left the former A Place In The Sun host Scarlette gobsmacked.
Best known for their teamwork on Channel 4's Worst House on the Street, Scarlette, 38, and her brother Stuart, 47, are now taking on a new challenge of splitting up to help desperate sellers fix up homes that simply won't budge on the market. In each of the six episodes, the sibling duo are both handing a property that requires a lot of renovation work done to it.
With the assistance of a skilled team of carpenters and designers, they each work to make their house more likely to sell. Recalling one chilling discovery she made in one unsellable home while filming the show, Scarlette said: "One lady was very attached to her house and its Victorian style – she has lots of dolls.
"When you walked in, everything felt oppressive. It was dark, dingy and scary. Even her daughters were trying to get her to sell it. She didn't want to listen.'
Another tough project for Scarlette was a charming cottage that unfortunately stank of dog odour, the Mirror reports.
She said: 'I love dogs, but you can become nose-blind to them. 'One of the properties was a really beautiful cottage but the minute you walked in, it smelled of dog.
'They were so used to the smell that they couldn't get their head around it. Those are things you're not going to see but they affect a sale.'
Although the unpleasant smell was strong, Stuart found himself particularly moved by the property's back story.
He explained: 'What made it important for me was how important it was for the owner. She was a really lovely lady. The transformation of the house itself was amazing but the transformation in her was memorable. She was so grateful.'
Emotions also ran high during another case in Swansea that hit Scarlette hard where they met with a widow who had filled her home with china plates and memories.
Scarlette explained: 'Her husband did the DIY. She couldn't do anything around the house. She was so grateful at the end, I was an emotional wreck.'
While houses and empathy are at the heart of the show, the hard graft is just as real.
Scarlette said: 'We're not just walking in, saying our piece and walking out. We really do get involved, even off-camera.'
Stuart agrees: 'We had great teams. But we needed lots of hands on deck to complete the transformations. Even the cameraman took things to the skip. Everyone chipped in.'
Scarlette chimed in: "That level of involvement was essential, given the scale of the jobs – and the tight turnaround. It was hard and stressful. We started around 8am and wouldn't finish until about 11pm. We cover two houses in a week, but the end result made it all worth it.'
However, it wouldn't be a Douglas project without a bit of healthy competition.
Stuart said: 'We are competitive in nature. Scarlette was a professional dancer in the West End, our brother and I played professional football. We are very close, but we're very competitive.'
He adds: 'The real goal was to help the homeowners, though we both still wanted to have the best house. In our family, we go into things and we do it to be the best.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
BBC and Channel 4 should 'merge' to survive, Sir Phil Redmond says
One of Britain's most legendary TV dramatists, Sir Phil Redmond, is no stranger to tackling difficult issues on screen. Courting controversy famously with his hard-hitting storylines on his children's show Grange Hill for the BBC in 1978, before he switched over to Channel 4 to give it its two most prominent soaps, Brookside (1982) and later Hollyoaks (1995). He's been a pivotal figure at Channel 4 from its inception, widely considered to be a father to the channel. Image: Sir Phil Redmond says the BBC and Channel 4 should team up to survive While he's been responsible for putting some of TV's most impactful storylines to air for them - from the first lesbian kiss, to bodies buried under patios - off-screen nowadays, he's equally radical about what should happen. "Channel 4's job in 1980 was to provide a platform for the voices, ideas, and people that weren't able to break through into television. They did a fantastic job. I was part of that, and now it's done." It's not that he wants to kill off Channel 4 but - as broadcasting bosses gather for Edinburgh's annual TV Festival - he believes they urgently should be talking about mergers. A suggestion which goes down about as well as you might imagine, he says, when he brings it up with those at the top. He laughs: "The people with the brains think it's a good idea, the people who've got the expense accounts think it's horrendous." Image: Some of the original Grange Hill cast collecting a BAFTA special award in 2001. Pic: Shutterstock A 'struggling' BBC trying to 'survive' With charter renewal talks under way to determine the BBC's future funding, Sir Phil says "there's only one question, and that is what's going to happen to the BBC?" "We've got two public sector broadcasters - the BBC and Channel 4 - both owned by the government, by us as the taxpayers, and what they're trying to do now is survive, right? "No bureaucracy ever deconstructs itself… the BBC is struggling… Channel 4 has got about a billion quid coming in a year. If you mix that, all the transmissions, all the back office stuff, all the technical stuff, all that cash… you can keep that kind of coterie of expertise on youth programming and then say 'don't worry about the money, just go out and do what you used to do, upset people!'." Image: Brookside's lesbian kiss between Margaret and Beth (L-R Nicola Stapleton and Anna Friel) was groundbreaking TV. Pic: Shutterstock How feasible would that be? Redmond claims, practically, you could pull it off in a week - "we could do it now, it's very simple, it's all about keyboards and switches". But the screenwriter admits that winning people over mentally to his way of thinking would take a few years of persuading. As for his thoughts on what could replace the BBC licence fee, he says charging people to download BBC apps on their phones seems like an obvious source of income. "There are 25 million licences and roughly 90 million mobile phones. If you put a small levy on each mobile phone, you could reduce the actual cost of the licence fee right down, and then it could just be tagged on to VAT. "Those parts are just moving the tax system around a bit. [then] you wouldn't have to worry about all the criminality and single mothers being thrown in jail, all this kind of nonsense." Image: Original Brookside stars at BAFTA - L:R: Michael Starke, Dean Sullivan, Claire Sweeney and Sue Jenkins. Pic: PA 'Subsidising through streaming is not the answer' Earlier this year, Peter Kosminsky, the director of historical drama Wolf Hall, suggested a levy on UK streaming revenues could fund more high-end British TV on the BBC. Sir Phil describes that as "a sign of desperation". "If you can't actually survive within your own economic basis, you shouldn't be doing it. "I don't think top slicing or subsidising one aspect of the business is the answer, you have to just look at the whole thing as a totality." Image: Mark Rylance (L) and Damian Lewis in Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light. Pic: BBC Since selling his production company, Mersey Television, two decades ago, much of his current work has focused on acting as an ambassador for the culture and creative industries. Although he's taken a step away from television, he admits he's disappointed by how risk-averse programme makers appear to have become. "Dare I say it? There needs to be an intellectual foundation to it all." Image: The Hollyoaks cast in 1995. Pic: Shutterstock TV's 'missing a trick' He believes TV bosses are too scared of being fined by Ofcom, and that's meant soaps are not going as far as they should. "The benefits [system], you know, immigration, all these things are really relevant subjects for drama to bring out all the arguments, the conflicts. "The majority of the people know the benefits system is broken, that it needs to be fixed because they see themselves living on their estate with a 10 or 12-year-old car and then there's someone else down the road who knows how to fill a form in, and he's driving around in a £65k BMW, right? Those debates would be really great to bring out on TV, they're missing a trick." While some of TV's biggest executives are slated to speak at the Edinburgh Television Festival, Redmond is not convinced they will be open to listening. "They will go where the perceived wisdom is as to where the industry is going. The fact that the industry is taking a wrong turn, we really need somebody else to come along and go 'Oi!'" When I ask if that could be him, he laughs. Cue dramatic music and closing credits. As plot twists go, the idea of one of TV's most radical voices making a boardroom comeback to stir the pot, realistic or not, is at the very least food for thought for the industry. Edinburgh TV Festival runs from 19 - 22 August.
Western Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Western Telegraph
Inbetweeners stars tease brand new project together
James Buckley and Joe Thomas, who played Jay Cartwright and Simon Cooper on the popular show, have shared a picture together on social media. Buckley shared the photo on Instagram with the caption "Working on something…" Fans of the program have taken to the comments, hoping that it is a project linked to The Inbetweeners. Fans go wild as Inbetweeners stars tease new project together One fan said: "We need an Inbetweeners reunion. Set 10/15 years later. Jay gets married and carnage ensues. American Pie Reunion showed that it can be done well." Another said: "Inbetweeners 3 we waiting." A third commented: "The Inbetweeners need to do a movie again! One of the boys stag dos." Others believe it could be linked to White Gold, the British sitcom set in Essex, telling the story of a group of UPVC window salesmen in the mid-1980s, that stars both Buckley and Thomas. Will there be an Inbetweeners 3? Fans have long called for another project to do with The Inbetweeners. In 2011, the first Inbetweeners film was released, followed by a second film in 2014 that saw Simon, Will, and Neil visit Jay in Australia. Top 10 Best British TV Series They came after a successful three-season series that fans still talk about and quote today. While no plans have been confirmed, ideas have been discussed. Speaking previously about the prospect of a reunion on The Always Be Comedy podcast, Joe Thomas said: "All of us feel it would be nice to do." He added: "We're all still around, we're all still in each other's lives. We all still like each other. "And if it was something that came up, I think we would want to do it. I feel like we all still really like each other. "We've all been able to go away and get various monkeys off our backs, in terms of things that we felt we needed to do other than The Inbetweeners to prove something to ourselves." Joe went on to hint at what could be next for the Inbetweeners, sharing that some ideas have included a stag do in Las Vegas. However, the actor added that there is some concern about returning to the big screen: "Everybody's anxiety would be, 'Will it be as good?'. That is what we would be going in with." Recommended reading: How to watch The Inbetweeners in the UK All episodes of the smash-hit sitcom are available to watch on Channel 4's streaming service All 4. Unfortunately, there are no free streaming options for The Inbetweeners Movie or its sequel The Inbetweeners 2 at the moment. Both can be rented on streaming services such as Amazon Prime, Apple TV and YouTube.
Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Princess Andre explains why she's not called her mum amid alleged 'feud'
Princess Andre has declared that it's 'not worth' speaking to her mother Katie Price about why she decided to speak about not being invited to her daughter's birthday party, fuelling speculation of a feud Princess Andre has declared that it's 'not worth' speaking to her mother Katie Price amid their supposed feud. The reality star, 18, is the daughter of showbiz legend Katie and her ex-husband Peter Andre. This year, she has launched a media career in her own right with her ITV2 show The Princess Diaries and whilst Peter was heavily involved. Katie was nowhere to be seen and was only heard on the phone. Her absence amid the publicity campaign has sparked rumours of a feud between the pair after Katie claimed she wasn't invited to Princess' 18th party. But when it was put to Princess that she should simply call her mother to sort things out after Katie's comments, she said 'it's not worth it' as she told The Guardian: "Mum can be annoyed about something and then we send each other a message and we're fine." Katie and Peter famously met on I'm A Me Out Of Here! in 2004, and married the following year but split in 2009. Asked why her parents did not appear together on her programme, Princess suggested that was never on the cards as she said: "They don't like each other. It would be quite strange for my mum and dad to be in it at the same time, just because that's never been the case in my life since they split up." When it was suggested to Princess that having parents was 'not easy', she replied: "No. Especially divorced parents." It comes after Katie, 47, slammed those producing their daughter Princess's debut reality TV series and she had urged Peter to sit down to end their feud. But in a fierce Instagram post that came shortly after, Peter said: "For sixteen years, I have stayed silent in the face of repeated lies from my ex-wife and her family, out of respect for my children and loved ones, but staying silent has been incredibly frustrating. That ends today." "The latest comments about my children's welfare and living arrangements compel me to set the record straight. For well-documented reasons, and for their safety, Junior and Princess came into my care in 2018 and remained with me until they reached adulthood. In 2019, the family courts issued a legally binding order to enforce this arrangement. I have never made this public before, out of respect for my children. "In 2011 and 2015, publicly documented court cases, found my ex-wife had made false claims. She was ordered to pay substantial damages and legal costs, and to apologise, to me and my management. The same falsehoods are being repeated today. Unfortunately, there are many more lies and baseless accusations I have yet to address. Those will now be dealt with in the coming months." In response to this, Katie issued a statement and told the Mirror: "Kate is in a much better and clear headspace and is at peace with the situation, this was in the past and she doesn't feel the need to bring up tit for tat comments, but more importantly she's dealing with this the right way and it's now in her lawyers hands. Kate will no longer be gaslight [sic] and bullied as she once was..."
