Chez Sarah, Sarah

WELL, it’s been about ten minutes since Sarah Beeny was last on the box, so surprise, surprise, she’s back again with Beeny’s Restoration Nightmare.

Last November, she and her husband, Graham Swift, attempted to breathe new life into Rise Hall in the East Riding of Yorkshire. An important example of architectural heritage, they hoped to use it both as a family home and as a venue for various functions.

So while she’s made rather a great career out of telling people just where they’re going wrong as far as their properties are concerned, here’s where it all gets interesting – we can find out if she practices what she so passionately preaches.

Beeny bought the grade II-listed building over a decade ago, back when it was not so much an attractive prospect as a crumbling 30-bedroom build in the middle of the countryside.

Given that she’s also got a bulking family, how does she do it? How does she juggle all her telly projects and still find time to spend with her family?

“It’s really really hard. In fact it’s so difficult it’s untrue,” she says. “Every now and then the balance gets thrown and then you think, ‘crikey what am I doing?’ and then you have to claw it back.”

She still finds time to offer her top tips for people looking to buy property in the current climate. “Don’t stretch yourself too thin because life isn’t worth it,” she says.

“If you’re buying something that needs work doing to it, don’t underestimate how much it’s going to cost and how long it will take.

“Plus, I would say, make up your mind if you’re buying a house for either a home or a business.

“If it’s a home, don’t worry too much in the big scheme of things; as long as you can afford it, even if it doesn’t make amazing financial sense, you’re going to get a lot of enjoyment out of living there.”

As this series returns, we can catch up with their progress to date, as the couple attempt to restore all the state rooms as well as various other aspects of the Georgian house – despite having little money to play with.

The latest news this week is that they’re considering selling the property.

Whether that has anything to do with publicising the new series or a serious intention remains to be seen.

THE third and final part of Mixed Britannia brings us bang up to date, as George Alagiah covers the years 1965 to 2011.

He pays particular attention to the difficult days of the Seventies when a new wave of mass immigration from the Indian sub-continent settled in Britain.

The newcomers were not welcomed with open arms by everybody. Instead, the National Front went on the march and people faced violence and prejudice on the streets.

Even the aristocracy weren’t immune to criticism over the matter. The Duke and Duchess of Richmond received a hostile reception from the community and the media when they adopted two mixedrace children. They discuss what happened, alongside their adoptive daughter, actress Nimmy March.

Alagiah then turns his attention to how Britain became one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world, with an ever-growing mixed-race population. But while some communities were happy to marry into other ethnic groups, others weren’t.

FOLLOWERS of House should perhaps make the most of the US series while they can. Hugh Laurie may well call it a day as the grumpy medic in the near future.

Prison Break’s Wentworth Miller (last seen slicing up zombies in the recent Resident Evil: Afterlife) guest stars in the latest episode. It centres on an altruistic man who suddenly collapses after an act of remarkable generosity, leading House to suspect his behaviour is a symptom of a medical disorder.

As the team struggles to find an explanation for his loss of consciousness and lack of response to treatment, they recruit former prison doctor Jessica Adams to help crack the case.