Channel 4

[wtg]

I subscribed to Britbox recently and a friend mentioned a show called Grand Designs.

Presenter Kevin McCloud follows some of Britain's most ambitious self-building projects, as intrepid individuals attempt to design and construct the home of their dreams.

Britbox has seasons 16 through 19, and I found seasons 11 and 12 on Plex. But we are hungering for more. The show has been on for 25 years, so there are a lot of unwatched episodes out there...

I found a list of all the episodes on the Channel 4 website and it looked like they were all free to watch:

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/grand-designs

Of course you have to be in the UK to set up a Channel 4 account. I remembered that probably 10 years or more ago I paid for a lifetime subscription to a VPN service. I used it for a short while, but I thought the response time was much slower and it was a bit glitchy, so I stopped using it. I decided to check it out again, and it turns out they get good reviews and the service has improved a lot. And they meant it when they said lifetime; I was able to log in without a problem.

I installed the software on my laptop and figured out how to cast my PC to a Roku (we have one on each TV). Et voila! Grand Designs on the big screen.

I'm an unofficial Brit these days, at least while I'm watching Grand Designs. I forgot to turn off the VPN after my little experiment. I figured it out when I did a search for Nestle decaf coffee and all the results were coming up priced in pounds sterling....

[wtg]

It'll take us a while to get through all the GD episodes, but I'll be looking for recommendations for other programs to watch via Channel 4.

I'm looking at you, @AndyD .

[AndyD]

Grand Designs 2007 March 14th
Series 7 episode 3
The Medway Barge

Friends (a time when our kids knew theirs) decided to get out of the insane London housing market and bought a barge. And use recycled sustainable materials. Don't think they had a design tbh.

It didn't go well.
The episode is highly entertaining as you shout "no no no", and "for gods sake get matching windows" etc

Massive amount of money lost (£100k). Boathouse a pariah evicted from moorings it is so ugly.
Think they split up. She Sze (pronounced szi) is a lovely person. Daughter is now a model.

Years later it was adrift. Another couple took it on and redesigned & built it properly...£200k