Karl Puschmann: Grand Designs and My House, My Castle

Grand Designs New Zealand 

Tom Webster meets aspirational New Zealanders on their daring, determined and sometimes perilous journeys to build the residential homes of their dreams, using innovation and a Kiwi can-do attitude to overcome the odds (TVNZ1 7.30pm Sunday April 12, TVNZ+). 

  

My House, My Castle 

A local television classic return to our screens to tackle a very different housing market to the one it left behind. A mix of relatable consumer stories, jaw-dropping home transformation, aspirational designs, and a masterclass of expert opinions (Three, Three Now).  

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
A'd be time to get your screen time picks for
this weekend, and Carl Pushman is here with his top takes.
I cannot wait cal for the new season of Grand Designs.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
I know right for me, this is a show that
somewhere along the line went from being a guilty pleasure
to being your bog standard normal pleasure. Yeah, it's conceded simple.
Each episode follows a single home build or renovation project
from initial planning through the completion. The fun part was
that the build actually finishing is not always guaranteed. As
the title says, these are grand designs that these people

(00:43):
are taking on. And what I always liked about it
is that you'd have normal people like your Eyjack, deciding
that they could project manage these ludicrously ambitious and complex
builds themselves with no prior experience in the trades whatsoever.
It'd be sort of like deciding to take an F
one car out for a spin and hoping that things

(01:04):
don't go terribly wrongly. Things often go terribly wrong very quickly,
And you know that was a big part of the
appeal When I initially started watching the show was just
seeing what was going to go wrong. The flip side
of that is that these incredible projects still, somehow miraculously
most of the time come to life, and it's often
just through stubborn refusal to give up by the couple

(01:25):
building these things. And that's what is really the heart
of the show is seeing these crazy builds coming to
life and all the heartache and stress and pressure that
comes that comes with getting these things done. The New
Zealand version is now on season ten and that framework
still holds strong. Our host Tom Webster does a passible

(01:47):
job of filling the original UK series host Killing McCloud's
impressive shoes. He doesn't have that same air of what
I'd like to call sort of support of doubt or
authoritative synicism that McLoud often displays when talking to the people,
and I do miss that. But I think Tom Webbs
is doing his own thing and it really works here,
especially in a New Zealand environment.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah yeah, this.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
Oh sorry. The first episode lives up to the title
with a couple taking on a Category one protected building,
Earns Clue Castle, done in Clyde, just beside Queenstown, so
as you can imagine there is all manner of headaches
going on with this build. And yeah, the amount they
had to go through in this years long renovation is incredible.

(02:32):
To the show's massive credit credit budget talks are frank
because you know, Kiwis, we don't like to talk about
money particularly, and here the show, budgets are openly discussed,
which is really important. And this episode is a complete
shocker when it comes to budget blowout. So yes, a Grand,
a grand viewing experience.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Oh yeah, I can't wait. I just love it too.
Every time I watch it and the person's like, yeah,
and we think the build's going to be done in
four months and yeah, and we know it's across winter,
but it should be all good, and you know, and
we're thinking we're going to come in at you know,
like three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. And I'm always like, ah,
have you never seen screen television someone.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Who struggles to put up a painting They think they
can do this.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
But I love her. I love it. I just and
I still somehow watch the show and think, oh, yeah,
I'd love to ever go at that. Yeah, what could
go wrong?

Speaker 3 (03:25):
Grand Designs New Zealand as.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
A new series that begins seven thirty tomorrow night on
TV and Z one. Tell us about the new series
of My House, My Castle.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, from an actual castle to pretend castle, I guess.
For its twelve season, My Housemark My Castle has had
a bit of a reno, a bit of a spruce up.
Comedian and broadcaster Hailey Sprawl has moved in his as
host and this takes a very different tact. Where Grand
Designs is slow and measured across years, My House My
Castle is just a tight half hour with the available

(03:58):
space just maximized. It is absolutely crammed with segments around housing, housing, market,
housing trends, housing, what have you. Episode one looks at
the death of the traditional Kiwi quarter acre dream. It
charts its history and the reasons for its demise. Talks
to a whole bunch of different people that are living
in big sections, small sections, in between sections, all that

(04:20):
kind of stuff that whizzes around from experts like architects,
interior designers, real estate agents. They all chime in on it,
and you know there's flashy graphics everywhere. Having Sprawl you
can get some comedy skits in and she sort of
has an excitable commentary the whole way through which drives
the pace. It does what it does well. It was

(04:43):
all a bit breathless and full on for me, but
it is solid entertainment and the amount of them for
they cram in is really commendable. But yeah, I like
my excitement at a little more less if you will,
And it was just very full on. But to its
credit you do get the history of the quarter acre section,

(05:05):
the reasons for why we can no longer have them.
A little bit dispointed that none of the experts talk
about the negatives around that. That's all very gung ho positive,
but you know that's the kind of show it as. It's, yeah,
a positive look at what's going on in the housing
market and little small renovation of a backyard section in

(05:27):
a townhouse gets done, which you get to see how
they maximize the space there. So, like I say, it's
a very tight half hour and it does do what
it does well, but put up against Grand Designs, it's
not really a fair comparison.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
There, Okay, cool, well, well there two different options there.
Sound great, thanks sir Carl. So those shows once again,
My House my Castle is on three and three. Now
Grand Design starts tomorrow night on TV and Z one
and TV and Z Plus, and you can hear more
from Carl on his sub stack screen.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
Crack for more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen
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