Channel 5 lands new series with The Repair Shop's Jay Blades
The Streets Where I Lived will explore Blades' childhood and adulthood through the homes he has lived in.
The Repair Shop host Jay Blades will star in Channel 5’s The Streets Where I Lived.
The three-part series is a Who Do You Think You Are and A House Through Time hybrid which will follow Blades as he revisits the homes he has lived in throughout his life and explores the histories of the homes themselves.
“I can’t wait to go back to my old neighbourhood and discover the history on its doorstep. The places I visit are the buildings, streets and communities that made me the man I am today,” he said (via Deadline).
The show hopes to return, with each series focusing on a different star and the history of where they have lived.
The series will be produced by Hungry Jay Media, a new production company launched in 2020, as a collaboration between Blades and Hungry Bear Media.
Daniel Pearl, Channel 5’s Commissioning Editor for Factual and Current Affairs, said: “Audiences are used to seeing Jay shine a light on other people’s memories, but this series will turn the tables and give viewers an insight into his life, unearthing new discoveries not only about himself, but also the community he grew up in.”
Blades is not the only star branching out from the BBC to Channel 5 recently, with Nick Knowles, Kate Humble, and the Hairy Bikers also taking adding programmes with Channel 5 to their repertoire.
Blades worked in factories and as a labourer during his 20s. He later set up Out of the Dark, a charity which taught young people how to restore and sell old furniture.
Funding for the charity later dried up and his marriage broke down, with Blades becoming. Supported by friends, Blades' presenting career began to take off when TV producers saw a 2014 short film about the charity.
In 2017, he began presenting The Repair Shop, a BBC One show which sees family heirlooms restored by experts.
Talking about The Repair Shop, Blades previously told The Guardian: “In the show, the thing that always gets to me is when men show emotion for someone they love. I lived for quite a long time being this macho man, and not really embracing that emotional side.”
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