On paper, you wouldn’t necessarily call Nick Knowles a national treasure. But only because he’s never really called attention to himself. Dig into his work over the years, and that entirely earnest humanity he radiates – even when it makes him look a bit cringe in the process – and it might be worth finally giving him the respect he deserves.
I wonder if it might happen imminently. This weekend the BBC quietly announced that Knowles’s long-running home renovation show DIY SOS – which has, shockingly, been on the air since 1999 – will be “rested” as part of cost-cutting measures at the corporation. Replacing it will be a glorified clip show, a bit like Grand Designs Revisited, only without any new footage.
As of today (18 October), Knowles has yet to comment on the resting, and his social media remains dormant. (The Independent has contacted his representatives.) But there was a glimmer of sadness to how he spoke about the show just days ago, when – during an appearance on This Morning to promote the new series of DIY SOS – he discussed its importance to the television landscape. For years it had freed itself from the shackles of Changing Rooms-style “do up the spare bedroom” theatrics, and instead focused on large-scale community builds, ones that roped in neighbours, families, trades people and small business owners.
“[It celebrates] the best of communities all over the country,” he said. “Thousands and thousands of working class heroes, which you don’t see much on TV. We don’t get into those areas. We don’t celebrate working class people, and that’s the kind of community I came from. So it’s a big deal for me to make sure that we represent [them].”
As Knowles held back tears while discussing the show, and This Morning’s Ben Shephard described DIY SOS as a series that’s “never been more important” than it is today, at a time of enormous division in society, I couldn’t help but wonder if news of its resting had been rattling around the industry for a while already. It was as if the pair of them were driving home the show’s significance while its own obituary was being discreetly written.
It was no real surprise to see Knowles choke up. He’s always been a celebrity proud to wear his heart on his sleeve, and be unafraid to reflect. When, in 2019, he was banned from driving for six months after being caught using his phone behind the wheel, he first responded to the judge’s verdict with trademark humour (“I can drive home, right?” he wisecracked), before taking full responsibility for his error in judgment outside the court. “It’s been a wake-up call,” he said. “The six-month ban was appropriate because to give anything else would be giving me special privilege.”
And take his 2017 album, a professional pivot that built on his success as a TV presenter (at that point he was a regular face on the National Lottery and on game shows including Who Dares Wins and Perfection). Every Kind of People came about following a jam session with Biffy Clyro, and saw him sing winsome country originals and Louis Armstrong covers. It was earnest possibly to a fault and thoroughly demolished by the press, with The Guardian writing that Knowles, um, “sounded like Pierce Brosnan’s Mamma Mia character being trampled by a herd of buffalo”.
Knowles admitted to being hurt by the jokes. “I’ve always been really thick-skinned when it comes to criticism – you have to be working in TV – but the response to the music just battered me,” he told The i. “I really took it to heart. The joy of playing music left me for a while.”
There was, though, something admirable about Knowles trying something new in the first place, regardless of its possible outcome. Likewise his step into filmmaking as the co-writer of the Simon Callow comedy Golden Years in 2016. He’s never been afraid to try. “People always told me I couldn’t do certain stuff,” he told The i in that same interview. “I’ve learnt that it’s always worth having a go, because quite often you’ll find that you actually can.”
Even when it gets him into trouble. In 2021, Knowles became embroiled in a slightly surreal controversy when he was threatened with DIY SOS dismissal for appearing in an advert for Shreddies cereal. The ad saw Knowles dressed in Shreddies-themed construction garb, riffing off his DIY SOS persona. But this got him into trouble with BBC bosses, as it breached the corporation’s strict advertising rules. Knowles and the BBC put out a joint statement (“Both the BBC and Nick are keen to resolve this matter and are working together to seek a solution”) and eventually the matter was put to bed, with Knowles stepping back from DIY SOS until the Shreddies campaign concluded.
“I have always said that DIY SOS is more than just a presenting job for me,” Knowles said at the time. “It’s part of me, it has my heart and working for the BBC for over 22 years is something I have never taken for granted.” He said he’d be “cheering on from the side lines” while a guest presenter hosted a DIY SOS special for Children in Need, but would return for the regular series – which he did.
He remained in the BBC’s good graces even after that snafu, memorably appearing on Strictly Come Dancing in 2024 where he suffered through an injury. Two days after the series’ first live show, Knowles injured his arm and shoulder while changing a tyre, but was given the all-clear to dance – but only managed to squeeze in a slim 16 hours of training for it. The injury became so bad that he had to miss the third live show of the series entirely, with his routine carried over to week four, where he didn’t survive the dance-off.
A staple on our television screens for nearly three decades, Knowles has understandably hit the headlines for reasons unrelated to his career – his relationships and divorces (he has two marriages behind him, and four children in total) have been covered extensively in the press over the years, though Knowles admitted in 2012 that he never exactly helped himself in that regard. “I went through a phase of dating models and actresses,” he told The Evening Standard. “My relationships have pretty much followed a pattern. They last six months and start off with me explaining that I work a lot, so will have commitment issues. The women involved agree that that is fine, then after a month I get a phone call saying, ‘This isn’t on’. After three months, we split up, then get back together. After five, there’s another tussle. At six, it’s all off.”
Still, he seems to have finally found happiness with influencer and entrepreneur Katie Dadzie, who is 28 years his junior. The pair began dating in 2021 and married in 2025. In 2023 he admitted to getting defensive over criticism of the age gap in their relationship. “I get upset when they come for people that I care about,” he told The Sun. “Normally I never comment back to the trolls, but on one occasion when people were a little bit judgmental, I was angry on Katie’s behalf. I chose to be on telly so I kind of expect it for me, but for people I care about they shouldn’t have to deal with it.”
It was the exact sort of heart-on-sleeve, tough-yet-sensitive declaration that Knowles has perfected over the years, and helped make him the face of an increasingly rare kind of television. During that This Morning appearance this week, Knowles shared that he has a deep connection with many of the builders who appear on DIY SOS.
“A lot of men feel that they need to get on [with it] no matter what the pressures are,” he said. “It can be a very lonely life as well for builders.” He added that he used to be so tired from filming episodes of the show – and emotionally drained from hearing the stories of the people the show was helping – that he’d often “pull up in a motorway service station and go to the far side and have a little cry in the car”. Many of the builders working on DIY SOS, Knowles said, “do the same”.
Even if he didn’t know it at the time, it was a perfect tribute to a show that will – believe it or not – be greatly missed. And a testament to a presenter who’s due for a bit more appreciation.
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Nick Knowles fights back tears on live TV – days before DIY SOS ‘rested’ by BBC
