The Big Build - Bury DIY SOS

When you have children, you want the very best for them and their future.

But sometimes life takes an unexpected turn.

To have your little girl in front of you, crying and saying,

' "Daddy, please help me," it is horrible. '

I asked the doctor

if she was going to die.

And she said, "I don't know."

This is a family coming to terms with a devastating illness

and they're living on a construction site

that is tearing them away from each other.

She's trapped. She can't...

she can't get out and do what she needs to do and that's our fault.

I'm trying to slowly chip away.

It just seems to be such a long process to get...to get it done.

It's too long. We need to be spending this time with her.

That's why we're here.

We're going to build a home for a little girl

and bring this family back together.

This week, we have the wonderful, fragrant and creative

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.

There are, of course, the usual suspects

but we've only got nine days so we need a lot more people.

Can we find them?

CHEERING

It appears we can. This is DIY SOS: The Big Build.

CHEERING

Bury, near Manchester, is home to the Malone family.

There's dad Rod, little Maddie, mum Michelle,

Anais and Keelea,

and they live here, in this three-bedroom house.

Their lives were turned upside down four years ago.

At two and a half years old, Maddie was a happy and healthy little girl.

But the family started noticing signs that something was

seriously wrong.

Her right foot started to turn in

and she couldn't really walk properly.

Then her right arm suddenly went up.

So then there was...

Really worried then cos it was all down the right-hand side.

She couldn't walk, she couldn't talk, she couldn't feed.

It was just a massive uncertainty and it happened so quickly.

Consultants were extremely worried.

They performed tests but what concerned them most

were the results of a brain scan.

The doctor, at the time, showed us a normal brain scan

and then showed us Maddie's scan,

the issues were, which indicated damage in the brain...

and wasn't very optimistic, really.

The comment was, "I'm very worried.

"I've never seen one as bad as this before." It really upset me.

Really upset me.

-What's the deal? What do you want me to do?

-Put it there.

Put this on here.

Doctors have done every imaginable test on Maddie

and they still don't know what it is.

But what is clear is that she has some sort of brain disease

and it's spreading.

I asked the doctor if she was going to die.

And she said, "I don't know."

At the moment, we haven't really got

any answers except she's gradually getting worse as time goes on.

We know that.

Every aspect of family life has had to change dramatically to

deal with Maddie's illness.

She struggles to talk.

Some days she's better than others,

some days her mouth'll droop to one side, her throat will become tight.

We've got all the feeding problems with her.

We have to use a wheelchair or a buggy if we take her out.

She doesn't sleep very well.

She needs us with her all the time.

You know, she'll probably never...

go to college, probably never have a family of her own.

You know, little things like...

never pass a driving test.

Just things that, you know, the other girls will probably do.

Maddie never will.

Look at the lights.

It's just the uncertainty of her life span, really. How long...

Four years on from being told by doctors

to enjoy the next six months,

Maddie is still fighting.

I want to play.

And her family are also fighting for her,

from researching her condition to taking on all her care.

Maddie's a big responsibility.

We've never been out, we've never left her, ever.

But if she is going to be poorly, it's going to be

when she's with me cos it's our responsibility.

Michelle and Rod were determined to prepare for Maddie's future.

15 months ago, they bought a new house they could adapt

and care for her in.

The idea was to get on and renovate the house.

We got the money, we got that together,

but we hit so many problems.

Dad Rod is a heating engineer and planned to build

a wheelchair-friendly two-storey extension

but unforeseen and incredibly expensive ground works

coupled with prolonged stays in London to see hospital consultants

sent their finances spiralling out of control.

As the scale of the project became clear,

the family lost all hope of ever completing the build.

The house itself, at the moment, is open to the elements

cos it's not finished so it's making it cold for the kids.

You know, everybody's suffering.

There's no kitchen and no family space.

Everybody is forced to live in their bedrooms.

The older girls spend all their time sat on their beds,

in cramped conditions.

Recently, I think it's just brought a massive drift in us all.

Like, it's just hard on us all, to be honest.

I don't think we're as close as we should be.

I wish it would just be done, quickly.

The ground floor is a building site and unsafe.

There's just one room downstairs with a floor

and it's freezing cold and acts as a temporary kitchen.

This house, at the moment, it's not safe. I can't do anything.

I can't cook, I can't clean.

Their only source of running water is the family bathroom.

Food is microwaved and eaten upstairs in the bedrooms.

Mum, Dad and Maddie also share a room.

She can't go to the toilet. She has to be carried to the toilet.

You know, there's no room for a wheelchair

so she's just really restricted in her mobility.

I think anybody can live like this for a couple of weeks but with

the added problem of having a special needs child as well,

you can't do it.

This family is fractured, forced to live in their own bedrooms

with no cooking facilities, no proper running water

and nowhere for the family to be together like they used to be.

We're so separated

and it's not fair on her to be sat in one room all the time.

So once we get other things for her to do I think it'll just

benefit everyone, not just Maddie.

Everyone.

They've tried to soldier on without asking help from anyone but they've

become cut off from friends and from each other in their own home.

We need to bring this family back together.

It's amazing. I mean, you've got a lot of space out there.

This is actually going to be a great house.

Well, you know, that was the idea, presumably.

The plan was to have everything on one level with all the doorways

widened so Madeline could get through quite easily in a wheelchair

so she would have the use of the full length of the downstairs.

You know, we talked about Maddie's situation.

It must be very frustrating for you

cos you actually went about things the right way.

You planned things out, planned the money ahead,

you bought the house to do the work and you had the money set out

to do it and yet now you find yourself in this situation.

Do you get frustrated that things have sort of drifted away from you?

Yeah. Cos obviously time is very important for us

as a family with Madeline's illness.

It's just not worked out how we planned.

So you need us to sort of level it all out,

make access to all the rooms and have some space presumably

where you can be a family cos at the moment you're all separated.

Yeah, we are, yeah. That would be fantastic, yeah.

As much as Maddie needs things on one level to aid her,

the kids themselves are being pushed out

cos they're just left in their own bedrooms

and they're getting no family time as well, so it's difficult for all of us.

-The other kids as well.

-Where are the other two, by the way?

-One's at work and one's at school.

-Is that right?

-Yeah.

What does Maddie need? What do you want?

What sort of things would you like to have in this house?

-Dollies.

-You like dollies and...?

Teddies.

-And teddies.

-And teddies.

Right, so we've got to have room for dollies and teddies.

That's the main thing. We'll do our best here.

We'll get you on your way. We'll get as much done as possible to get you

back in charge of the house even if you have to do

-a little bit of decorating at the end.

-Fantastic.

-Cool.

-Thank you.

Although this family have done their very best to complete this

house themselves, there are a few local tradesmen that thought

they could do with some help.

It's a bit intimidating, this.

Suddenly, this huge crowd has turned up.

-But come and say hello to everybody.

-Hello, you.

Look, all these people are here to help you.

-All these people.

-Big wave.

Come on, we better get you under way so we can get started.

-Thanks very much, everybody. Thanks very much.

-Time to get cracking.

And, as usual, we've got just nine days

to rebuild this two-storey house.

CRASH!

Nothing going on in there.

That's being repainted. All the coping is staying.

Chris, leader of the slowest conga in the world,

is showing the boys what needs doing.

And there's a lot.

MUSIC: "Do The Conga" by Black Lace

# Doo, doo, doo Come on and do the conga

# Doo, doo, doo It's conga night for sure. #

It might be half-built

but we're rethinking the whole of the building.

It's quite exciting, really. Cos it's a building site now.

At the end of the week it's going to look lovely!

And speaking of lovely, our designer this week is none other

than Mr Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.

He of the bespoke set, the boutique brigade,

and four years ago we even let him loose on a DIY SOS.

And, as you'd expect, he mucked right in and got his hands dirty.

That's it. Look at that.

Don't tell anyone, OK? Don't tell anyone.

Despite looking like a vampire slayer

who had a fight with a bagpipe - and lost -

we are expecting great things from Laurence.

What has he come as?!

We're not going to do one of those

-lime green and silver things, are we?

-We're not using lime green!

In fact, we are using lime green. And purple.

And silver. Isn't that weird? It's like we're going back into my...

-HE CLEARS THROAT

-Sorry.

-You all right there?

This building environment's not good for you, really, is it?

I feel quite Dickensian.

It's kind of... This was meant to be their sort of dream home

and has turned into this dank, dark cave and something of

a prison for them, really, living in just two rooms of the house,

when it was supposed to be the place they could all be together and...

I think it's particularly sad because there's that sense of,

you know, trying to make everything work for them

and then just having the brakes put on it.

So what we are doing now, which is just to take them that last step.

Laurence's design provides a house that works for the family

and it's in his own inimitable style.

The whole of the ground floor will be levelled

so that it's wheelchair-friendly for Maddie.

On the ground-floor extension, there will be two new bedrooms.

One for Mum and Dad and one for Maddie, with a shared wet room.

There is a brand-new open plan kitchen and a comfortable family

lounge so that finally they'll be able to eat and spend time together.

Moving upstairs, we've kept the family bathroom

and created a spare room.

Anais gets a much bigger grown-up bedroom

and her old box room is being turned into a pamper room for the girls.

In the extension, there's a bedroom, dressing area

and ensuite bathroom for Keelea.

The thing that amuses me is that

an hour ago, this place looked a lot better.

Yes, well, that does happen any time we walk into a place.

I think there's an unstoppable tide of testosterone, which has meant

that everyone's decided they can't make an omelette without

breaking eggs so let's break something!

Excellent suggestion.

And, with over 80 people on site,

they're all over it like a rather nasty rash.

These guys are steaming ahead. Even Billy looks happy.

He should do - all the electrics are already in.

Whoever's done all this wiring has done it right, it's proper,

but there's so many changes, I've asked the boys

and we all put our heads together

and we're going to take everything out and restart again

so there's no confusion and at least we'll know what's gone on.

-Are we all for it, boys? ALL:

-Yes.

-There you go.

See, that's my idea.

Yes, typically, Billy's idea is to make an easy job more difficult.

Redoing all the electrics might mean that, for the first time ever,

we could miss our deadline

as this is going to push back every other trade.

Things can't be as bad on the outside, surely.

It turns out that all the drainage was wrong.

I stand corrected.

That's how they done the connection for the upstairs loo.

They've just put a pipe into the top of the manhole and dropped in.

So that's got to come out. I thought it was all done, the drainage.

That's another day's work, day and half's work.

OK, so we've barely started and that's a day behind on the drainage

and Billy's put us behind on the inside

but at least he's cracking on with stripping out the electrics.

Outside, Jules has more problems than he has mud.

And that's because we've got ambitious designs for the garden.

The entire area needs landscaping and decking and there will be

a Nordic cabin and Hydropool

so that Maddie can exercise her muscles.

It's crucial.

Hold on a minute, Kev, hold on.

'Yeah, hold on, Kev. We have more issues now.'

What's the problem with this extension roof?

It's been felt and battened wrong

so it's all pooling with water across the front above the gutter.

-So we've got to get all the tiles down.

-Everything down.

Tiles down, roof stripped, re-laid.

Well, we kind of need this set by tomorrow

cos it's going to absolutely throw it down.

OK, so apart from the roof, the drainage and the electrics,

-we're doing really well.

-Well, it's not bad.

'You can't rebuild an entire house

'without coming across a few problems. And we found a few.'

-I have a question for you, sir.

-Yes, go on, go on.

-Ooh. Oh, I just stepped... Look at that.

-Get your foot out of my moat.

This very nature of this drainage issue we're dealing with

-at the moment...

-It's very soggy.

It is. And the land falls from here to here.

-At the moment, on our plans, we have the...

-Hydrotherapy pool over there.

-Over in that corner.

-Yeah.

-We'd like to move it over to that corner.

-Definitely. Take it over there.

-Beautiful. That's nice.

-Spoil yourselves.

-That's the kind of decision-making we like.

Also it'll look nice under that tree.

How have you managed to survive on building sites

dressed like that without ending up...like me?

I have absolutely no idea

and I think I'm into my 30th year of surviving on building sites

dressed like this as well, but it just seems to work.

It's the way I roll. I don't know.

And you've gone a bit silver fox in the intervening years.

-I have. Oh, my God, I know.

-Is the missus enjoying that?

I'm having that put in.

It's actually mink.

THEY LAUGH

Mink? Mink - isn't that a small ferrety animal?

Either way, I don't see Laurence liberating himself

out of the leather and getting down and dirty with this lot.

I used to get down and dirty all the time.

'Now it's mostly just weekends

'but I still occasionally do it when my knees allow it.'

We have a different viewpoint but we get to the same place.

You go the rough way, I go the smooth way.

Yes, "I go the smooth way."

Nothing smooth, however, about removing

over 1,500 metres of electric cables or the fact that Billy's team

will have to replace every single bit of it.

Still, he's taking it in his narrow stride.

Unlike Mark, who is still coming to terms with how difficult this

house is turning out to be.

So, what's going on here is we were going to have some scaffolding

up so the roofers could get up and felt and batten the roof.

We can get all that done but we can't do that cos

the scaffolding will block off the dig for the drainage being put in.

This is day one. What's day two going to be like?

Let's go to Trevor Brooking stating the obvious -

we know we're in trouble, let's just get on with it.

Soon we'll need to plaster, but first, plasterboard -

-all 320 square metres of it.

-HE LAUGHS

We could just have built the downstairs -

that would have addressed Maddie's needs.

But we need everyone to benefit from this house

and that includes the older girls.

In a family like this, where you've got one child with such,

you know, huge needs, there is

always a worry about other children, other siblings.

About them feeling slightly disenfranchised, slightly left out.

But, you know, there is guilt attendant to all of this.

So it's really, really important that, actually, for Anais

and for Keelea that they feel as if they are, you know, as much part

of the build, as much part of the project as Maddie is, which I think

is, you know, par for the course - that's what we're here for.

He's got it, hasn't he?

Dealing with a serious illness can be a very isolating experience.

Everyone on site wants to show this family

they needn't go through things alone. Including the gas guys.

Dad Rod is a heating engineer and would be mucking in himself,

if we let him.

Luckily, his workmates have stepped in for him.

-Now, you're Rod's boss, aren't you?

-I am, yeah.

To what extent has he talked about the difficulties that

he's been going through?

-It's obviously been really tough over the last year or so.

-Not a lot.

Very private person, Rod. Keeps it to himself.

The lads knew nothing, if anything, about it.

How he's done what he does... We work long hours for the job he does.

He's coming home and he's torn between spending time with Maddie

or finishing off.

He's going to spend time with Maddie and, you know, that's why,

you know, it's like it is.

'Rod has taken on the entire burden of this build himself

'and I can't help feeling that's how he approaches everything.

'Including Maddie's illness.'

You've got a hell of a lot on your shoulders.

Are you not worried that, because you take it all on yourself

and want to deal with it yourself,

you're separating yourself from friends and family

who might want to help out?

Absolutely, yeah. Absolutely. But everyone looks at things differently.

I just believe that everybody in their own life,

they've got their own competitions, their own...

their own stresses and strains

and I try not to burden anybody with my situation.

I just try to get in from work, get on with the house

and chip away, hoping I get to the light at the end of the tunnel.

As a dad, you want to protect your children, that's your job.

It must be very hard, then,

to lose some of that control in hospitals and places.

To have your little girl in front of you, crying and saying,

"Daddy, please help me," it's... Yeah, there's nothing...

There's not many words that can describe that.

Each time she's been down for a certain test, I said,

"Given the opportunity, I would take that test tenfold times myself

"rather than put her in that situation."

Do you get that where you ever just want to, like...

Rip something up. Break something.

When I sit and think about the way she is and the way she was and

then I watch stuff back, I think, "Wow."

I feel she's been absolutely robbed.

'After four years of uncertainty and struggle,'

this family still won't ask for help.

But we think it's about time they had some.

And this lot are happy to do it.

In fact, they'll be working well into the night to catch up

on our schedule. And that should please Mark.

Now we're going to get on with the roof,

cos those big things we just carried in are our fall arrest bags

so if someone falls off the roof,

they can have a little rest when they land.

'He looks a little happier, doesn't he?'

Like a rugby...rugby tackle bag, isn't it? Ever play rugby?

-Want to go for a tackle?

-Go on, Mark.

THEY LAUGH AND SHOUT

Well, they work.

MARK SCREAMS

When Mark stops screaming...

No? OK.

Well, when we've scraped him off the floor,

we need to get these safety bags in place so we can get to the roof.

It takes a couple of hours to make the house waterproof

but they've about ten minutes, as the weather is about to turn.

I thought, cos we had an extension already built, this would be easy,

but it hasn't really worked out that way, has it?

HE LAUGHS No way.

The trouble is unpicking other people's work.

We always spend a day or two going backwards before we start

-going forwards, don't we?

-Yeah.

-Generally.

But this is probably....we've unpicked all we need to unpick. Pretty much.

We've done a fair bit of unpicking,

-now it's time to start stitching up again.

-Yeah.

So tomorrow's go to be a brighter day.

And I have a feeling the sun's going to shine.

Ah. Maybe not.

It's day two. There is no sun.

Just a lot of mud.

It's funny, really, isn't it?

When we arrived two days ago, that was quite a pleasant garden.

Do you like what we've done with it?

And with more due later, we've still got to finish the roof

and get all the windows in place to stop the wet outside getting in.

Today is about as busy as I've ever seen a DIY SOS. Like this.

The room's full of electricians and plasterers and chippies

and we've got a concrete pour going on here later today as well.

It's really manic.

There you go. Have a little look in there. Say good morning.

-Morning, everybody.

-All right?

-We've got decorators working in here.

Look. Plastering.

Hello.

What are you doing up there?

New boiler.

What do you make of this, looking round?

So many people in the place and working and all trying to get

-the thing done.

-What can you say?

It's incredible, isn't it, really?

If you give people a chance, human nature will shine through and people

are prepared to give up their time and do the right thing, basically.

And Laurence is also doing the right thing.

He's found himself an artist's man cave.

No danger of muddy boots in here.

He might have the colour palette of a preening peacock

but I've a feeling that this family will love his ideas.

-This is very lovely.

-Thank you.

-Do you know, this reminds me

-a little of Chinese paintings of blossoms?

-Exactly. Exactly.

And, in fact, that's a bit of a starting point

but also Art Deco, they did a lot of this kind of thing.

This is to go above Michelle and Rod's bed

as a kind of a fine art focus.

It's sort of going to look like a distressed mirror.

It's called verre eglomise.

You seem very engaged with this.

My mother was disabled.

She had MS for many, many years so basically, all the way

through my teenage years, and latterly, she was in a wheelchair.

My father died when I was very young as well.

And so, yes, it was something that I...you know, I had very,

very first-hand experience with.

I really, really like to do something for the parents.

As a parent, your empathy just goes so strongly to them

and I really want to make sure that there's some beautiful,

beautiful things for Michelle as a way of, you know, saying,

"For goodness' sake,

"you are incredible with what you're coping with."

He's a lovely man, isn't he? And we're not alone.

We've got 92 lovely builders who all think the same thing.

Inside, the rewiring has delayed Chris and the plastering and

nothing winds him up more.

So he's staying well out of the way of Billy.

Instead, he's watching paint dry.

You missed a bit there, mate.

-Good team?

-Yeah, brilliant.

-Well, you know, as much as painters...

Here we go. Billy's at it again.

Excellent.

LAUGHTER

-It is extraordinary, isn't it?

-He is.

Bill says that he used to be a scuba diver,

working on submarines in Plymouth.

What do you reckon the chances are that he's actually a scuba diver?

-None.

-He was saying, "Well, you'll never find anywhere to go scuba

-"diving around here." I've found somewhere.

-Have you?

Tell me something painful's involved.

Something that's going to, I don't know, bite him or squish him.

-Might be.

-Really? Oh, mate.

I'm not vindictive, I just like giving people what they want.

You know what they say - be careful what you wish for.

Downstairs, the guys are cracking on with what will be the kitchen -

something this family have been sadly lacking for months now.

So this area will make a huge difference to them.

Over on the extension side,

the plans are particularly important for Maddie.

She's been sharing a bed with her mum and dad,

which hasn't been great for her spine.

She also needs a wheelchair-friendly bathroom.

One of the things I do like about the way that the plan has

come together, and it's something we've actually inherited,

is the fact that you've got Mum and Dad there,

Maddie there and they're sharing this bathroom space.

I think that's really nice. I think it's very social.

I think, a lot of the time, I get a bit worried

cos, if you've got a severely disabled child, they feel as

if they're pushed to the periphery of the family or they're

pushed into a very, very special area.

Actually, Maddie is still very much part of the heart of the home.

-You're under-lit here.

-Do I look a bit spooky?

HE LAUGHS CREEPILY

A little bit more Gothic than...

Yeah. Let's go to a different room.

Shall we move on where the lighting's better?

Really? Better lighting from Billy?

I wouldn't hold your breath.

Where are we at, gentlemen? How are the electrics doing?

Cos obviously we had the setback of having to take all the wiring out

and rewire it but we're day two now. How close are we?

-We're ahead again. It's nearly finished.

-Is it?

-Yes.

We've done very...

And then something's...

LAUGHTER

Then I spoke.

Amazing. Every time, it's you.

Despite the electrics delay, the upstairs is plastered.

Now, Chris can smell the need for it downstairs.

I want to get them in here in the morning

cos the kitchen's being fitted on Saturday so we can board

and skim and work our way that way, that way and into there.

The floor, here, is being concreted tonight in there

and in the other side so we can get on it first thing in the morning.

It's taken the entire day

but work on the back garden has progressed amazingly.

They've cleared an area ready for the concrete.

Maddie needs constant physio to strengthen her muscles

so we're installing a Nordic cabin and Hydropool so she can exercise.

And it's concrete-tastic today as the concrete is also

going down on the inside, which means there are now level floors

and that's exactly what Maddie needs to be able to move freely

around the ground floor, something she's never been able to do.

So in the morning it'll be like a concrete snooker table?

-Yeah.

-Lovely job.

A concrete snooker table?

It's our third day on site. It might be grey skies

but we've started to break the back of this build.

Getting a whole house like this rebuilt in just nine days

requires elbow grease from absolutely everyone.

Well, all right, not everyone.

I'm hoping that the house is as fine as I feel.

Um...I hope you had a lot to drink last night.

-Right.

-I'll see you in there.

-You will.

See, I can talk builder!

Yeah.

The concrete on the inside has also set

but we're still behind schedule so we need everybody we can get

because Laurence doesn't really do part-finished.

Actually, you can start beginning to see rooms taking shape

now, which is really, really good. It's feeling less like Armageddon

and more like... more like a house again.

The rooms are beginning to develop their own personality.

As long as that personality is not Billy, I think we'll be fine.

With all the concrete set,

it's Chris's team that takes centre stage.

Considering that the floor only went down at seven o'clock last night,

it's coming on tremendously.

-All rewired in two days and a new floor down.

-And plumbed.

-And plumbed.

-New doorway.

-And doors and windows.

That's pretty impressive, actually, isn't it, to be fair?

-Yeah.

-These boys are throwing it on, aren't they?

It's what they do every day. We are actually in there...

-Anthony, you're being polite now.

-I know.

THEY LAUGH

How come his is bigger than yours?

THEY ALL GROAN

Oh! Don't come that - that's personal!

You can't beat a big tool. Talking of which...

It's like ascending...

ascending into an environment that's a little bit more civilised.

Look at this. This is great.

Keelea's room looks as if it's almost there.

One of the problems we've got is that there's a lot of new

plaster happening, onto which I need to...I want to paint or paper.

He's certainly got the wafting down to a fine art, hasn't he?

But do the trade think he cuts the mustard?

Can we get Laurence to come and do a bedroom for you perhaps?

-Design something for you?

-Yeah, yeah. I would.

-Would you?

-Yeah.

-Would you, really?

-He's got good...fashion.

What do you make of Laurence? Have you seen him so far?

-Not chatted with him. Seen him.

-And what do you make of him?

Seems all right. Nice guy.

We've come across him before on telly and we know what he does.

Let's see what it looks like. I bet it'll look good.

A bit of appreciation for the Bowen there. Very nice, too.

So this is Anais's room.

This is going to be a wonderful kind of soft greens and blues palette.

-So there we are. Mouth watering yet, gentlemen?

-Oh, yes.

-I'm feeling hungry already.

-Yes. Yes. Carry on. Carry on.

Top of the class.

There is only one Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen...

thankfully.

You know, this house hasn't been a proper home for a long time, now.

Maddie's so seriously ill, she needs her loving family around her.

Instead, her home is forcing them apart.

It's very, very stressful, because we're all in our bedrooms.

And the children don't want to bring any friends home.

They can't bring any friends home.

Noise brings on violent seizures in Maddie, so every night,

the house must fall into complete silence

as soon as she goes to bed.

They can't bring friends into their bedrooms,

cos they can't make noise after eight o'clock,

cos that will keep Maddie awake.

They're living the life they're living for their sister.

And it's been like this for four years,

where we've split the family in half.

Tell me all about the house -

do you actually like living there as it is at the moment?

-No.

-No. Why?

-No. I just go straight to my room.

That's what we've literally been doing - just in our rooms.

My mum and Maddie and Dad are in theirs,

Anais's in hers and I'm either just out anywhere...

How do you think it is for Maddie, what she's having to deal with?

She can't...she can't walk anywhere.

She needs her own space to do things or play out in the garden, or...

Just to have, like, a normal experience, just...play out,

if she wanted to, or...

She can't do anything, she's just stuck in her bedroom.

My mum doesn't really tell me anything about it,

because I try and be happy with her and try and ignore it

-and try and make her feel better, but...

-Hm.

I don't know, I don't know how to deal with it, to be honest.

I think we just both get on with it.

-Yeah.

-Why should we complain when it's her who's got...?

Why should we...? We don't have the right to complain

when it's her who's going through that.

We've got nothing to complain about, really.

Despite the brave words,

we want these girls to get their family time back.

We can't make Maddie's disease disappear,

but we can build a house that will ensure

nobody has to lock themselves in their room ever again.

Inside, the floor fitters are in

and we've widened the door so a wheelchair can fit through easily.

At the front of the house,

we're installing a brand-new drive with ramp

and the boys are pushing hard to get the job done

while the weather holds out.

Jules and his gang have been working in the back garden,

shovelling and levelling off a huge 25 tonnes of gravel.

We're out of the mud.

We've scraped all the mud out, put it in the skip,

hardcored everything, and we've got it clean to walk on -

it's such a wonderful feeling.

And it's wonderful to see his little face smiling, at last,

and know that others are smiling

as we make it to the end of another busy day on a Big Build.

Having started this job, we hit a number of problems,

and just over halfway through, we're just beginning to catch up.

The drainage at the back has now been replaced

and the new roof is felted and retiled.

Looking good, uh?

-Beautiful. Looking good, innit?

-We're getting there.

I just said that.

Inside, Billy's delivered, as promised.

He and his boys have replaced all the electric cabling,

but can he deliver on his promise to scuba dive?

I've got a plan to flush old Bill out.

Of course, you did say that you had been a scuba diver,

working on submarines.

Yeah - gospel. I was down there, out there,

clearing all the barnacles off the submarines at sea.

That's why they called me Barnacle Bill.

If you want to pull out, and you were actually not telling the truth,

you can pull out at this stage, now.

Would I lie to you?

'For your sake, Bill, I hope not.'

Oh, he's a natural - I'm sure that kind lady is just helping him

because it's slippy.

Hello. How you doing? Nice to see you all. Are you enjoying it?

-Yeah, fantastic.

-Great place, isn't it?

I thought we'd wander down - there's a tunnel you can walk through.

Don't know if you've been yet, but shall we go through the tunnel

and see what we can see?

How are we feeling at the moment?

Obviously, we're getting close to letting you have your house back.

What's the thing you're most hoping will be in the house?

-The floor being level downstairs. And Maddie's room.

-Right.

-Really.

The kitchen, so I can cook for the family -

it's the most important room for me.

-The living room.

-Really? Why's that?

Cos, like, we can all just, like, watch TV together.

Just to do stuff together - has that been the toughest thing,

-that you've all had to be in different parts of the house?

-Yeah.

-Aw!

-Such a nice thing to say, that. So nice. It really is.

-It's lovely, that.

-Very cool.

'Talking of cool, Billy must be feeling pretty cool, about now.'

-Oh, wow!

-Look who's in here! Do you know who that is?

-That's Billy, our electrician.

-It is.

Billy told me that he was a scuba diver

and he wanted to go scuba diving to prove it.

The thing I didn't tell him...

I didn't tell him there are sharks in there.

MUFFLED YELLING

As long as he doesn't make any noise, he'll be fine.

THEME FROM "JAWS" PLAYS

GURGLING

LAUGHTER

Well, I really think we should probably get Billy some help,

he's looking quite frightened.

Why don't we go and have some dinner in the cafe first?

Then we can tell people later.

BILLY GURGLES ANXIOUSLY

He really did go in the tank with a shark, I promise.

NICK LAUGHS

The Jacuzzi's here. If I had my way, it'd be steaming, now.

It'd be steaming, and I'd be lying in it,

stretched out in the bubble bath.

-You use bubble bath?

-Yeah. Don't you?

No. I shower, mate. Don't do baths.

Well, I only have a bath once or twice a year,

-But when I do, I like to bubble.

-Do you?

-Yeah, in the bath.

Interesting. I know what to get you for Christmas, now.

Strawberry bubble bath.

There we are, a rare glimpse into the fragrant world of Mr Perryman.

Once they've chopped up all this wood,

they'll need to deck the entire area for our Nordic cabin

and that will house our Hydropool.

Inside, the kitchen is coming together

and Billy's back on site - and dry.

I wish I can say the same for the house.

We've got a wee bit of a problem up the stairs.

We've, eh, put a nail through a pipe

and we've got to try and discover where it is.

Jim and a couple of plumbers have gone up the stairs to try and rip the floor up.

Fingers crossed, we find it,

cos there's a lot of water coming through.

Doesn't look good.

With only three days to go, this is bad news.

If it's soaked through the walls,

it's going to unstick the plastering,

which would be, well...frankly, a disaster.

Yeah, it's a lot of water coming in there, eh?

Meanwhile, in Design World...

CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS

I think today feels as if we've turned a massive corner.

-It's a bit lilac, innit?

-Ha! Not lilac.

That's lilac, innit? Isn't that...? That's purple.

-That's heather. That's heather...

-That's lilac.

'This may take a while.'

Heather. Heather to heavy purple to black purple...

-Do you know what puce is?

-Yes.

They're all shades of purple,

they're all from the purple spectrum.

-Lilac's much colder than that.

-Heather's bluer than that.

No, no, no - heather...

Lilac is almost pink.

-That's definitely heather.

-That is kind of pink.

It's that little, designer..

What are you doing with your pants?

Checking to see if they're purple,

because everything's turned purple since I last looked.

Purple tiles in the kitchen.

How can you not know what colour your pants are?

I stagger out of bed, I grab whatever's first.

You achieved that look in the dark?

NICK LAUGHS

My job is obviously to take the edge...

What is your job, exactly?

It's to take the edge off Maddie's needs,

so that the whole scheme doesn't look as if it's a hospital ward.

He's right, you know.

And of course, there's been no place for luxury over the past year or so,

with Maddie's illness and the desperate state of the house.

One person who knows exactly how that's impacted everyone

is Michelle's sister, Cheryl.

As you can see, the place is still a bit of a mess,

but you can start to see the house that they need coming out of it.

It's fantastic. It's like a dream come true for the family.

-It's lovely.

-It's seems to me that,

at a time when they needed the help of people around them,

they've actually got more and more closed in and kept it to themselves.

You know what I mean?

They've taken themselves away from their support network

because they're both people

who believe they need to get on with it themselves, but...

They could have done with, like, talking to people.

Well, I suppose with an illness as serious as that,

you shut yourself off from the world and you think, "I'll get on with it."

We all tried to help and wanted to be there to support, but it's so serious

and upsetting that you just try and do the day-to-day

and get on with it.

It's that very determination to deal with problems on their own

that is so isolating for the family.

We're told Maddie is currently the only child in the world

with this brain disease,

so doctors can only manage her symptoms

whilst they try and identify her illness.

'I wonder how mum Michelle copes with it.'

It's pressure from so many different angles,

there's so many demands on you.

Do you ever just get angry about it?

I'm not angry, because I'm a positive person,

but we have to make the best of the situation we're in,

because if you're not positive,

you couldn't get out of bed every day, you couldn't function.

If you get up every morning, thinking,

"My child's got a brain disease. What if it keeps growing?

"What if she keeps deteriorating?

"What if she can't even speak tomorrow?"

You do have days where you're really bad and you say,

"I'm not going out today, I can't cope."

Then you have days when you think, "I just have to get on with it."

You know - where does the future lie for any of us?

You are so strong, but do you ever think that maybe,

by refusing help from others...you know,

that you're missing out on an opportunity for someone else

to shoulder that burden?

We don't ask for any help,

because...that responsibility is mine and Rod's.

Maddie is a massive responsibility, so we don't ever...

Why does it have to be only yours?

Because if anything happens to her, it's going to be when she's with me.

And not with someone else. I'm strong for us all.

I'm the one that keeps it all together.

I just let Rod be him.

He doesn't really like to see her deteriorating the way she is,

so he tries to prop her up and help her walk.

You see that by the way he holds her - he doesn't just hold her...

Best friends, yeah. Best friends. But I take her to theatre.

I do the gas induction, not the doctor.

The face that she's going to see before she goes to sleep is me.

TEARFULLY: I can't have a doctor do that. I have to do it.

So I do it.

It is a hell of a burden.

Yeah, but you get used to whatever situation you're in.

As bad as it is, you do...you get used to it.

You just adapt to live with whatever situation you're put in.

What this family are dealing with takes a huge amount of courage.

Somewhere near site, Laurence is working hard to provide the family

with a design that works for them without it feeling overly medical,

and, in true Laurence style, it doesn't involve working outside.

I don't mind getting my hands dirty at all - don't forget,

I've got a classical fine art training, so...don't, uh...

Don't be seduced by the foppery.

I can roll my sleeves up

and cover a ceiling with cherubs like the best of them.

The best cherub ceiling-coverers, presumably.

But do we still have ceilings? That's the question.

For all the work that's gone into this house...

It's pretty amazing that we've had 93 guys in here -

all the plumbers, electricians, plasterers, boarders,

all the carpenters, the floor layers, the kitchen fitters, everything -

and we've had one little leak.

That's not bad going, really, is it?

That means we're working with professional people.

But there's one idiot who put a screw through a pipe.

I think that idiot was probably Mark.

With the leak finally fixed, we're out of the guts of the building

and into the details.

It's kinda getting there. I'm excited.

And we've got 24 hours to go to polish it off.

As long as the weather's nice.

-I think it will be.

-If we have a dry day, it will be fine.

You've been good outside here, haven't you?

You're the man for outside,

because you've got that extra thermal blanket.

-Like a seal.

-Yes.

Ever blown a seal?

Yeah, I had an old, um...Aston...

-Really?

-..that blew a seal. Very expensive to fix.

-Dreadful.

'I think we'll leave it there, shall we?'

Another new day. The last, in fact.

Not of the world - of this particular job.

And these guys just pick up where they left off.

They'd sleep here, if we let 'em.

Just take a look around.

This is probably four weeks of solid working, ordinarily.

These guys have eight hours

and there's not an unhappy face amongst them,

even though this house keeps spitting problems at us.

First day, we discovered that the roof on the back extension

was wrong and we had to redo it.

We only just noticed the roof on the front extension is wrong as well,

so we've had to take all that off and retile that.

A bit of a pain at this stage, but I'm sure we'll get on top of it.

However, it is going to take everyone for one final push

to get over the finishing line...

You have got to be kidding me!

Garden's looking nice.

WHISTLING AND CHEERING

And how exactly is this helping?

-What are you doing?!

-Just making sure it's all right for the family.

We have to drain it now, and clean it.

We had showers this morning.

These bubbles are all mine.

-Oh, it's not switched on?

-No.

LAUGHTER

Seriously - get out!

'I get no respect around here at all.'

At least someone's getting on with it.

Every inch of wall has been plastered

so it's the decorators' turn to buzz around.

There might be a lot to do, but they're still smiling.

As if Sean Connery and Bruce Forsyth had a love child.

Price is right.

HE IMITATES BRUCE FORSYTH

LAUGHTER

I have to say, I think Laurence has done a sterling job, here.

Maddie's wallpaper is bespoke, and the colours bold.

This is not just any old job for Laurence.

He's put his heart and soul into this design.

One, two, three, go.

And so, in homage, the entire build want to show a little love.

LAUGHTER

I really - I cannot say how touched I am that the entire site

has turned into a temple to me.

Je m'appelle Raquel.

All right, don't build your part, lad.

LAUGHTER

HAMMER BANGS

Laurence and his pointy phase, there - "I want this here, I want that there."

Down, down, down...

Done. Lovely.

It's all coming together. Very colourful. Unusual for us -

we do a lot of grey and green

and this is going to be a very colourful...

HE LAUGHS

He barged me, then?

ALL: Wahey!

'I won't bother getting up, it'll take too long.'

Just nine days ago, we arrived to find a broken family

living on a building site.

I'm trying to slowly chip away.

It just seems to be such a long process to get it done.

She was having to wash plates in the bath,

and...it was just like a derelict campsite.

I think anybody can live like this for a couple of weeks,

but the added problem of having a special needs child as well...

It's making it hard, because my little sister and my mum and dad,

they have to share a room.

Maddie's home had become like a prison.

Worse still, it was damaging her health.

She's really weak, she's got really poor muscle tone at the moment.

She's trapped. She can't get out and do what she needs to do

and that's our fault.

She's just not independent at all.

So she needs us with her all the time.

This family were in crisis - dealing with a serious illness

and living on a construction site.

They were determined to cope alone,

but in doing so, they were being torn apart.

Ready?

It's difficult for all of us - the older kids as well.

They're just left in their bedrooms and getting no family time as well.

I think we just both get on with it.

Why should we complain when it's her who's going through that?

We sent out a DIY SOS

and Bury and the Greater Manchester area responded

and just look at what they've built in just nine days.

At the front, there's a new driveway with wheelchair ramps,

so that Maddie no longer needs to be carried in and out of the house.

Inside, there's a brand-new kitchen with dining area.

This family will no longer have to eat in their bedrooms.

There's also a family lounge,

which means now they can spend time relaxing together.

Laurence has used their favourite sofa as the colour inspiration

and the whole space is bright, with luxurious pinks and purples.

All the doors have been widened and the floors levelled

so that Maddie can move more freely

across the whole of the ground floor.

Across in the extension, there are dramatic changes.

We've created a brand-new room for Mum and Dad.

And a stone's throw down the corridor is Maddie's room,

designed specifically for her, with her needs in mind.

And within easy reach, a superb wet room.

Upstairs, there's no more washing up in the old bathroom.

We've refreshed it and created a spare room.

There's also a fabulous pamper room -

something Michelle and the girls will love.

Mum, Dad and Maddie's old room that doubled as a kitchen,

is now a grown-up bedroom for Anais,

decorated in her favourite colours.

Across the hall, it's the extension

that's undergone the biggest transformation.

Where once there was just a shell, Keelea has her own bathroom,

bedroom and dressing area.

Outside no longer resembles a mud bath.

Instead, there's a cabin-protected Hydropool and decking area,

taking this house from a DIY disaster

to a home where a family can embrace their future together.

If you're ready...

..open your eyes.

-Oh!

-Oh, my...

-Not like the same place, at all.

-GASPING: Purple!

-It's brilliant, that.

-Absolutely amazing.

GASPING: Look at the lights!

Pea's chair's set up there for a family meal - how nice.

-Good, innit?

-How nice. How nice.

It's just lovely. It's just perfect. I just couldn't...

-I couldn't have planned it better myself.

-No, never.

Also somewhere where the older girls can do some homework,

if they need to, and be part of the family, still.

Come through.

-We kept your sofa, because that was the key thing, obviously.

-Yeah.

Oh, it's gorgeous. It's just so nice.

Have a little seat on your lovely sofa.

Everything just rolls through, just matches perfect.

-Really nice.

-Perfect. Just can't believe it.

Was it what you were expecting?

No. No, didn't think it'd be this nice.

Thanks very much(!)

LAUGHTER

When we first opened our eyes, it didn't even -

let alone looking like the same house -

didn't even look the same room, the same space.

-Want to see some more, then?

-Yeah, fantastic, absolutely.

Happy with just this.

Oh, wow!

All the colours, perfect for her.

You are allowed to hug, by the way. You don't have to stand on ceremony.

I...I'll get emotional, myself.

You all right, love?

-Can't believe it. She'll love it.

-She will.

I thought that when we showed you the kitchen and dining room and living room

that you'd be emotional about it there,

-but in fact, this is the room...

-Yeah.

-Why's that?

Well, this is what it's all about. This is what she needs.

She likes to have sleepovers, but she can't go anywhere else.

-Yeah.

-Well, there's a bed on here, so that she can now have sleepovers.

-It's just lovely, isn't it?

-It's perfect.

-Just lovely.

-Her little face, when she sees this.

-She'll be...

She'll be blown away.

The trouble is that, so often, when you think about what she needs,

-you forget that it can look beautiful, too.

-Yeah.

This is what she needs, but it's got all the fun built into it

that you would hope any...sort of, perfect little girl's room

-is going to have.

-It is, yeah.

So you need a bathroom to go with it, don't you? Obviously.

So, let's go and have a look in here.

-So...

-Oh! Gosh!

-Gorgeous!

-Yeah.

-Love it.

I would say that not everybody would love this, with the colour, but...

I love it. I love it, it's perfect.

-Maddie will love this, as well.

-I'd pick it.

-So, happy with what we've done for Maddie's needs?

-Yes.

Laurence was very keen that you had somewhere

that felt like a little holiday

every time you went into your bedroom -

somewhere you'd relax and take five minutes to recharge.

SHE GASPS

Oh, it's gorgeous.

-Oh, look - my girls.

-Aw, that's nice.

You know, this is like a boutique hotel.

SHE GASPS

(Look!)

This is a specific type of French painting

where you paint on the back of glass,

and again, an original that Laurence did for you himself.

I love it. I just love it.

-We could never have done it, could we?

-Never in a million years.

Now, we can just concentrate on the family.

-Just doing nice things together, as a family.

-Which we used to do.

Yeah, which we used to do a few years ago, but...

Well, things changed. Her needs changed.

So you have to adapt to that.

At least, now, you won't have to work all weekend on the house

and every night.

-We can just spend time together.

-Amazing. Yeah.

That's what we wanted to do.

That's what all the people in the area wanted to do.

Right, we haven't finished, yet,

cos we've only shown you the ground floor.

'And upstairs is just as impressive.

'Finally, the older girls get the space they deserve.'

Aw, little Anais will love it, won't she?

-So, she's grown up, hasn't she?

-It's a very grown-up room for her.

I think she'll feel that as well.

She's the one, really, that's not had friends...

I think she will really, really appreciate a nice bedroom.

So, we've got Keelea to look after as well,

-who, again, has been through a lot, hasn't she?

-Yeah.

So we wanted something properly grown up...

I'll stop talking about it. Why don't we have a look?

-Oh!

-Wow!

-Wow...

Yeah - so, welcome to the first area, the dressing room.

ROD LAUGHS Gosh!

Nice, having a dressing room, when you're a young lady,

an area where you can prepare yourself.

-It's very Keelea.

-Is it?

-Yeah.

Oh!

Yeah, and they have missed out, the last few years.

This is going to more than make up for it.

We're OK. We can cope with it.

It's just the other two girls...

SHE SNIFFS

You know, they've had to cope with it,

with everything that we've gone through.

So, at least now...

..we can say, "You can have somewhere nice."

Get to join in the fun, now.

-You get to show the girls.

-Yeah.

What do you think?

What can you see on the wallpaper?

-Mermaids.

-Mermaids. And what's this?

-My bed.

-Your new bed. You like it?

-Big girl's bedroom now, Pea.

-You're a big girl, now.

-Your own room.

-Which bit do you like best?

-All of it.

-You like all of it.

Is this just how you imagined it, little Mads?

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-Do you love it?

Oh, my gosh!

-This is really nice.

-Like the colours?

-Yeah.

You've spent a year in the box room, haven't you?

Not really much of a bed.

So now you can have your friends round, can't you?

-You deserve it, don't you?

-Mm-hm!

Of your friends, who's got the coolest room now?

-Me.

-Honestly?

-It's that good, is it?

-Yeah.

KEELEA LAUGHS

-Oh, my goodness - it's just so nice.

-It's amazing, isn't it?

Just, I wanted you...

This is - I'm happy that you've got your room,

because...it's been quite hard, hasn't it?

TEARFULLY: Yeah, we've had a hard few years, haven't we?

We don't have to worry about the house, now, do we?

At least we can spend time together now, can't we?

-Did we do OK in here?

-Yeah.

-Thank you so much.

-That's fine. You likely to be moving out, soon?

No.

LAUGHTER

We didn't think so.

-Happy with it all? Decent house?

-Amazing.

OK, that's everything.

Well, it's not quite everything.

We've done a little bit more out the back.

Out you come. You can look up.

GASPING

Oh!

-KEELEA, GASPING:

-Oh, my God!

This all-weather grass, artificial grass.

Really good one, actually - it's a soft play area.

Then obviously, we wanted the decking,

so that if need to be in a wheelchair, or anything,

you can go down the side of the building

and get over to what we're calling the hobbit house.

It's actually got a much posher name than that.

Oh, my gosh!

Oh!

Wow - this is just, like, the best thing.

It's unbelievable, isn't it?

Would it be OK if we introduced you

to some of the people - they can't all be here -

that have made this happen over the last nine days?

-Come and say a few words to them?

-Yeah.

Yeah? Don't be frightened - they might not look much,

but they're the loveliest people.

Yeah, they truly are.

Here we go. Out you go.

APPLAUSE

SPEECH DROWNED OUT BY APPLAUSE

This kind of thing doesn't happen every day, does it?

No - it's just amazing.

I'm just really overwhelmed. It's just perfect.

It's an incredible transformation, it really is.

Thank you so much for all your efforts.

I'm totally humbled by the whole experience.

I felt like I should be here myself, digging deep.

We'll benefit from it so much, so, so much.

It's...it's a miracle. It's a modern-day miracle.

Go and say hello - come down, here you go.

-Oh, thank you, Laurence, thank you.

-Such a pleasure.

This family decided they're going to be strong and determined

and just get through.

But that decision has put a shell up.

You can't blame them, but it removed them, slightly,

from the community around them - a community that was only too happy

to come and help when we asked them.

And now, they have a new home and a new future.

Genuinely, it's that important -

they can spend time together now, comfortably, as a family.

The girls can invite their friends round.

Maddie can have sleepovers

and she has all the medical needs without it looking medical.

The future's much brighter because of what these people have done.

Maybe you know somebody who could do with some help.