Escape to the Chateau DIY

David Higgins says it all for us, a terrific series for lovers of France but completely spoilt by the recaps and to-ing and fro-ing between the various locations. A much better idea would be for each episode to concentrate on one Chateau and follow the story through with no recapping after the adverts. Most people have a memory span longer than the adverts. I have complained to c4 about this but of course no one has bothered to reply.

I'll give it an 8 just for having Dick and Angel in it, but wish the production company hadn't put so many recaps in the show and all those "Coming up" previews. Some popularized American thing we're very very sadly adopting. Recaps interrupt the flow of the show, as do these previews, the first 2m 10s of the show is best avoided as it spoils the 'surprise' of the show. And all the subsequent, "Coming up" numerous previews throughout, it is dumbing down the audience, spoon feeding the show for those who have a need to know what the show is going to be in 10 mins time before they've even seen it. Viewers will either watch the show all the way through, or not bother at all, do we really need to know what happened 10 mins ago or what will happen in 10 mins time.

All these Americanization program gimmicks are ruining our programs in the UK. Such a shame it has blighted this one. Maybe the show was made to be sold off to that market as well, hence the dumbing down of the show to suit those conditioned to such a format.

Location great, people in it great, presenters great, the show is great, a lot of hard work went into making the show no doubt, well worth a watch!, but there are just too many recaps & coming ups. Any further shows produced by this production company about anything, just cut down on the recaps & coming ups.

Many people dream of moving to France or having a holiday pad there. We are lucky, we have a holiday pad and I have to say that we have loved watching this series. Yes, getting work done in France is extremely hard and yes, it is very expensive so you do learn. Seeing how others have been (brave or stupid?) enough to take on even more of a project and to risk more than we dared to risk has been amazing. It is entertaining, informative, light hearted, realistic and so much more. It helps that the production team have also been able to demonstrate how down to earth and likeable the chateau owners are too - it really has made those watching the program feel part of what is going on and this has been helped by the interactive facebook group which all owners appear to be participating on too. This has also added to the vibe. Yes, the reminders after the advertisements or when they swap to another chateau can be a little annoying but this seems to be the UK 'thing' now. If it was safety related I'd suggest it was implied in legislation somewhere which the UK would take to the n'th extreme and which the French would probably ignore ;)

As previous review contributors mention, this program of 45 minutes could easily be compressed to 25 minutes if it were not for constant recapping of scenes and narration. The scripted events, are amateurish and highly unrealistic - 14 guests are to arrive within two hours and one of the chateau owners is off in the forest searching for potting soil - do the producers believe we are of marginal intelligence?

The scenery is beautiful but the production is weak - but still better than the garbage produced for US television.

I am not a chateau owner but I followed the original series with Dick and Angel and enjoyed it immensely. Even more interesting to see other British people buying up these beautiful houses and returning them to life after many years of being abandoned. A lot of hard work goes into restoring these places and requires a lot of dedication.

In each episode there are several homes being featured on each episode and the owners are seen tackling various restoration work, some of which causes a lot of stress due to timescales for events booked. Yes, there is a fair bit of recapping, but to be honest I do not mind this, seeing the houses become lovely family homes after years of neglect. A thoroughly enjoyable series, there is a lot of humour and quite often Dick and Angel Strawbridge appear to give advice. Ten out of ten.