It combines bad subsidence and literal song choices with buy-to-let landlords. How did the 18-year-old show become such a hit, with fans including Meryl Streep and Paul McCartney?
First off: everyone remotely connected to producing BBC One daytime TV stalwart Homes Under the Hammer calls it Hammer. So we’ll call it Hammer, too.
How to describe Hammer? People buy dilapidated properties at auction. They renovate them and either flip them for profit, rent them out or – very occasionally – live in them. Presenters Martin Roberts, Dion Dublin, and Martel Maxwell visit the properties post-renovation, to see how the developers, who are often amateurs, made out. There is a reveal; an avocado bathroom set from the 1970s is replaced by an economy suite from B&Q, the developers make off with a £20,000 profit and the circle of life continues. Woven throughout is some light history about the locations being visited, which is mostly euphemistic descriptions of former mining or manufacturing communities (“once-thriving”, etc), unless the property is in London, in which case presenters talk about the transport connections to the centre of town. There are also many puns and pleasingly literal music choices. (More on that later.)
