Why do we enjoy watching home TV shows in the UK?

Why do we love home TV shows in the UK?

Home TV shows are a huge part of the British television landscape. From showing off ambitious home renovations to luxurious properties abroad, there’s a home or property TV series to suit almost everyone’s tastes.

But what is it that makes us so fond of this TV genre, exactly?

We decided to get to the bottom of this question by surveying Brits on what they love about watching property programs, and which ones they enjoy the most.

Top reasons the UK watches home TV shows

According to our survey, 82% of UK adults regularly tune in for at least one home or property TV show – that's about 55 million people!

The top reason Brits love watching home TV shows is to see the process of home renovations unfold, and then the ‘after’ production from all that hard work! Over half of those we surveyed (51%) named this as their No 1 reason for loving this TV genre.

We consulted Dennis Relojo-Howell, managing director of psychology website Psychreg, on why so many people find watching renovations satisfying.

'We love to see spaces given new life on TV because we all have areas of our homes that we hope to transform – especially since the lockdowns provided us with more time to reorganise our indoor spaces’ Dennis said. ‘But even prior to Covid, the open space concept in domestic projects held a certain allure.’

The second most common reason given for the nation’s love of home TV shows was sheer enjoyment – with over two fifths (42%) simply finding them entertaining.

Nosy neighbours

Meanwhile, over a third of Brits (35%) admitted that they like to have a ‘nose’ inside other people’s homes.

Interestingly, it seems women are more likely to enjoy this than men, with over two fifths (42%) of women naming this as a reason they watch home TV shows compared to just over a quarter of men (28%).

A quarter (25%) of UK adults also said they enjoy seeing home and property listings, including those that are located abroad.

Providing home inspiration

Another third (32%) of Brits use home TV shows as a source of inspiration for their own living spaces, and a fifth (21%) find these types of shows aspirational, giving them something to work towards.

Some people may use these shows in a similar way to Pinterest boards, providing ideas for interior schemes or renovation projects. Others may dream of building a new home entirely, with almost a third (31%) enjoying seeing the building process, and 28% interested in architecture and design innovations.

'Aside from reorganising our homes, we are also drawn to property platforms; we spend time on Rightmove or Zoopla for fantasy window shopping or perhaps just to see what’s on offer. It's simply because as humans we’re just plain old curious, and we always look for ideas. And, more importantly, because we need to dream’ Dennis added.

‘Maybe you aren’t a homeowner. Or maybe you aren’t living where you thought you would or where you want to. We can dream about the house we might one day have’.

What’s the ‘best’ home TV show?

While we may all have our own favourite home TV show that’s close to our hearts, we decided to apply some ‘science’ to the topic and rank the UK’s top home and property shows according to a few all-important factors.

In the battle for best show, we considered:

• Each program’s IMDb rating
• The average number of people searching for information about each show (on Google) every month
• The percentage of people who said they enjoyed the show in our survey

Grand Designs came out top thanks to its very high IMDb review score of 8.5/10. A third of Brits (33%) also voted it their favourite, and it’s very popular online too with an average of 33.1k monthly searches on Google.

A Place in the Sun narrowly missed out on the top spot due to its lower IMDb score. Escape to the Chateau tied for second, with the highest IMDb score of 8.6/10 and 30k+ Google searches each month, but fewer votes (22%) in the nationwide poll.

What’s interesting is that all these shows have elements of grandeur and escapism in common – showing off properties that are impressive either in their design or location.

Home TV Show	Overall Ranking Score out of (36)	As a % of total score	Rank
Grand Designs (Channel4 / All4)	31	86%	1
A Place in the Sun (Channel4 / All4)	27.5	76%	2.5
Escape to the Chateau (Channel4 / All4)	27.5	76%	2.5
Homes Under the Hammer (BBC)	23.5	65%	4.5
DIY SOS (BBC)	23.5	65%	4.5
Escape to the Country (BBC)	22	61%	6
George Clarke's Amazing Spaces (Channel4 / All4)	20.5	57%	7
Location, location, location (Channel4 / All4)	20	56%	8
The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes (BBC)	13.5	38%	9
Property Brothers (W Network)	12	33%	10
Love it or List it (Channel4 / All4)	9.5	26%	11
Marriage or Mortgage (Netflix)	3.5	10%	12

 

In joint third place, we have two shows that focus on home renovations – Homes Under the Hammer and DIY SOS.

Nation’s favourite home TV shows

While we’ve crowned the ‘best’ shows in our rankings, the public’s favourites looked a little different from our survey.

Iconic daytime TV show Homes Under the Hammer slid into first place with 39% of the public’s votes.

A Place in the Sun came in a narrow second, with 36% of Brits enjoying the show, and Location, Location, Location took third place, despite not making the podium in our rankings of the ‘best’ home TV shows.

On why we enjoy these particular shows so much, Dennis said: ‘We are more likely to be drawn to property programmes – like A Place in the Sun, and Location, Location, Location – where we watch people go and shop for a new home, because it provides us the same experience when we scroll through Rightmove or Zoopla’.

‘Moreover, we enjoy these programmes because 'home shopping', just like other forms of shopping, can boost serotonin. This is absolutely fine as long as it doesn't lead to compulsive shopping.’

Show	% of Brits that enjoy watching
Homes Under the Hammer (BBC)	39%
A Place in the Sun (Channel4 / All4)	36%
Location, location, location (Channel4 / All4)	33%
Grand Designs (Channel4 / All4)	33%
Escape to the Country (BBC)	31%
DIY SOS (BBC)	30%
George Clarke's Amazing Spaces (Channel4 / All4)	23%
Escape to the Chateau (Channel4 / All4)	22%
Love it or List it (Channel4 / All4)	16%
The World's Most Extraordinary Homes	13%

 

Meanwhile, Netflix original, The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes, was the least popular in our survey with just 13% voting for it as their favourite.

The show originally aired just five years ago in 2017, so may not have picked up the same die-hard fanbase as longer-running favourites.

Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsopp’s show Love It or List It, on which contestants must decide whether they really want to sell their home following a professional renovation, came second to last with just 16% of Brits claiming to be big fans.

Searching for home inspiration?

It’s clear from our study that exploring home interiors inspiration is a pastime for many of us. If you’re searching for new ideas for your home’s storage solutions and décor, why not check out our blog?