Dream builds

Grand Designs host Kevin McCloud discusses the show's enduring popularity and why it hinges on people rather than their projects

- LAURA CARRENO-MULLER

When Grand Designs was first pitched to TV company Talkback Productions in the 1990s, Channel 4 bosses weren't convinced that Kevin McCloud was the right person to front it.

"They said, 'We don’t mind the format, don’t like the title and don't think the presenter's right for Channel 4,'" he says. "But they did commit to it and we've been there ever since.”