Radio Times: Review by:; Jane Rackham

Usually a wreck of a house is transformed into a beautiful home after devoted owners throw bucket-loads of time and money at it. Not this time. The Old Manor in Saham Toney, Norfolk, is a dilapidated, fragile, crumbling and unstable pile.

Yet its remarkable owner Polly Grieff stands amid the piles of rubble and scaffolding, contemplating the disaster (it has damp, deathwatch beetles and dry rot; it does not have solid foundations or a watertight roof) and calmly wonders where she’ll put the sofa when it’s done. You see she thinks “when”. The rest of us would say “if”. It’s a masterclass in optimism.

About this programme

4/6. A couple take on an ambitious restoration project at the 16th-century Old Manor in Norfolk. The Grade II-listed building is plagued by damp, woodworm and death-watch beetles, but the new owners are determined to turn the crumbling property into their dream home. However, as work gets under way, costly structural problems are uncovered, and just when Polly and Erich think they have solved the major issues, the building is broken into and vandalised. Presented by Caroline Quentin.