Grand Designs' Kevin McCloud shares sadness over two stars who died on show
Kevin McCloud has shared the sad news that two Grand Designs stars died while filming the show.
The TV presenter has been at the helm of the home renovation programme for over 20 years. He has overseen groundbreaking projects right from the blueprints to their completion. However, not all of the projects have gone the way everyone had hoped they would.
Kevin has shared the two "very difficult" projects, which saw participants die while they were filming for the show. He revealed the challenging times he has faced on Grand Designs and that he was currently filming a yet to be aired episode in which a participant had sadly died.
Nat McBride sadly died while filming the show, and his partner Lucie decided to carry on the project (Channel 4)“We are doing a very difficult project right now," he told New Zealand publication Stuff. "We had no idea and neither did our contributors, but the husband fell gravely ill and has passed away during the filming process, and it makes the narrative very hard to graft. Because you think where do we go [from here]?”
Kevin did not share any further details, but also reflected on Grand Designs star Nat McBride, who sadly died during the making of another episode from stomach cancer. His wife Lucie Fairweather decided to carry on the project alone. Kevin reflected that one day during filming Nat announced he had stomach cancer and he passed away six months later.
Grand Designs home branded 'worst ever' and 'big lump' as couple go over budget
Lucie rang Kevin 18 months later and said she wanted to carry on the project with her two children. She teamed up with architect Gerry Tate, and then went on to build the dream home. Lucie and Gerry went on to win an award for their impressive build.
Last year Kevin returned to an infamous Grand Designs property that had featured in what was dubbed the "saddest episode ever". He went back to the lighthouse-inspired home in Devon that had been under construction for more than a decade. It's part of an estate – which includes an annex known as the Eye – that had been introduced to viewers by Edward Short and his now ex-wife Hazel on the series in 2019.
Kevin previously felt the property was a "sad and cautionary tale about overreaching", having led to significant debt and the end of the marriage of Edward and Hazel. When he revisited the property in 2022, Kevin was amazed at its end result. He said: "Everything here is epic". He was given a tour of the property, which includes several bedrooms, an infinity pool and a top-storey room that offers around 300 degree views of the coast.
However, Edward revealed that he would need to sell it – saying that the lighthouse and the Eye would be sold together. He estimated that the total cost of the project had been between £5.5 million and £6 million, despite having initially hoped to spend up to £1.8 million.
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