Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Changing Rooms: Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen returns to prime time with tips for Boris and Carrie

© Jon CottamLaurence Llewelyn-Bowen
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen (Pic: Channel 4 / Jon Cottam)

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is known for his bold design choices but his thoughts on how the Prime Minister and his wife should decorate their Downing Street flat might raise eyebrows.

The nation’s foremost residence should be unashamedly “quirky” the interior designer and TV personality asserts.

“Let’s get a bit more Brit-popular again,” he says. “Put a bit of paisley pattern on the front door, for sure.”

Speaking in the run up to the long-awaited return of cult interior design show Changing Rooms – which will see Llewelyn-Bowen back as a designer and will this time be helmed by Anna Richardson – the 56-year-old likes the idea of making strong interior choices for Boris and Carrie Johnson’s flat.

“Surely the whole point of Downing Street is to act as a showpiece for what British design is about and how incredibly exciting it is?” he contends.

“I would much rather our leader presented a vision of British interior, British craft, that was incredibly relevant and that was very much about leading the pack, that was very inspirational, rather than just being off the shelf from John Lewis or, you know, out of the tin from Farrow & Ball.”

It’s clear Llewelyn-Bowen is as fond of flamboyant style as he ever was. But when Changing Rooms comes back to our screens this week, there will be some changes to the show, he promises.

Newly acquired by Channel 4, the cult programme which ran between 1996 and 2004, will mark 25 years since the first episode was aired on September 4.

“That is a very, very long time,” says Llewelyn-Bowen, noting the “big changes” to the forthcoming series are “the things that I’ve always wanted to change”.

“We’re still doing two days, we’re still swapping neighbours, we don’t know anything about our client, but we’ve got really very serious, decent budgets.

“So often with the original series, the designs were great – but they just never ended up being that well-built. With the best will in the world, it was kind of, ‘it looks good but don’t lean on it because it’s like a Crossroads set’.

Naked Attraction’s Anna Richardson stepping in to take over hosting duties from Carol Smiley, and Llewelyn-Bowen says working with her has been a “delight” and describes her as having a “rather starchy, Home Counties feel” with something “quite nurse-like” about her.

“She sort of gets you through Naked Attraction, you know? She’s got that ability to say, ‘Right, OK, now put it back in your trousers’.”


Changing Rooms, Wednesday, 8pm, Channel 4.