TV favourite Nick Knowles talks about his new show Original Features
FOR a self-confessed history "nerd", Nick Knowles doesn't spend much time looking back at his own past.
The DIY SOS presenter, who celebrated his half-decade in September, says: "I never look backwards. I think what's gone is of no importance."
It's a strange statement from someone who wrote a series of educational documentaries for the BBC called Historyonics and who's back on screen presenting a third series of Nick Knowles' Original Features, about the social history of homes.
He did once go through a period of reflection, when he "got the hump with television" about three years ago.
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"I was about to sack it all in and go off and be a goat herder in Scotland or something and my brother said, 'You ought to take five minutes to look at the path you've come along before you decide to call it a day'. And that was an interesting exercise because I hadn't ever done that.
"I'm always looking for the next thing. I've just written a movie, so we're making our first feature film this year, I've got a new Saturday night quiz show coming up in the summer, and there's this new series of Original Features. I'm always looking ahead."
Knowles' career started as a lowly runner before he worked his way up to directing and producing. His presenting credits range from restoration show DIY SOS to fronting wildlife documentaries and quiz shows.
Then UKTV approached him about doing Original Features and he felt as though things were starting to change again for the better.
For those who are new to the show, it's a combination of home makeover and historical documentary, as Knowles travels round the country visiting old houses whose owners are hoping to restore them .
"So this programme is about taking off the clothes that a house might have been wearing for the last 100 years and giving it a sense of its original style. And along the way, we get an idea of what life was like for the people who actually lived in that house in the first place. Comparisons between life 400 years ago and now are extraordinary."
Knowles was born in London and grew up in Kent. His current house doesn't have a single period feature.
"I live in a former council house under the Heathrow flight path."
The father-of-three last year to married Jessica Rose Moor, who's half his age.
You'd be forgiven for thinking Knowles might want to step out of the limelight for a bit and enjoy newly-married life, but he seems busier than ever, saying he'd love to do some acting this year ("I'm looking for a nasty villain to play").
Then there's his feature film, which is about people fighting back against the recession. "We're hoping we can make it later on this year for a worldwide release, I'm not really interested in making films just for a British audience," he says.
But whatever he does, Knowles still suffers from a touch of imposter syndrome, not quite able to believe his luck.
"When I first started out as a runner, I expected someone to tap me on the shoulder every week and say, 'Nick, we've just discovered you're not supposed to be here'. And I still have that thought whenever I go to showbiz events – I'm as surprised as anyone that it's going well."
Nick Knowles' Original Features starts on Home on Monday
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