Kevin Mc Cloud - Television

Television

McCloud's first appearance on television was as a guest presenter on Homefront on BBC Two. In 1999, he then went on to write and present Grand Designs, a programme covering unusual and elaborate architectural homebuilding projects, produced by Talkback Thames, which is now in its twelfth series. In the series McCloud always remains critical of the designs, continuously hoping for a house to be designed that follows the schedule properly and does not go over the estimated budget.

He also wrote and presented Grand Designs Indoors and Grand Designs Abroad. In the course of the latter series, McCloud demonstrated his fluency in French and Italian, occasionally acting as a translator for people who have houses built abroad in places where they don't know the language. He is also editor-at-large for Grand Designs magazine, and sat on the steering committee for the associated exhibition "Grand Designs Live" in 2005 and 2006.

In May 2008, McCloud took the Grand Designs series of programmes to a new level with Grand Designs Live, in which he demonstrated environmentally-sensitive construction methods on a site in the East End of London, as well as presenting a "Grand Design of the Year" competition. His co-presenters included Dave Gorman, Janet Street-Porter, Naomi Cleaver, Diarmuid Gavin and Bill Bailey.

Other TV work has included Don't Look Down, in which McCloud examined the construction of tall buildings while climbing them, on BBC Two in 2000, Demolition on Channel 4 in 2005, The Stirling Prize: Building of the Year (in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008), and Kevin McCloud and the Big Town Plan on Channel 4 in August 2008. His recent publications include Choosing Colours in 2003, and "Grand Designs Handbook: The Blueprint" in 2006. He is currently writing a consumer guide to sustainability and culture change to be published by Collins.

On 30 November 2008, he appeared as the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car on Top Gear. He finished with a time of 1:45.87, second on the leaderboard behind Jay Kay, who finished with 1:45.83.

In January 2010, McCloud fronted a two part documentary detailing a two week stay in Mumbai's Dharavi slum.

In 2011, McCloud appeared on an episode of Carpool.

Starting in September 2012 McCloud stars in "Kevin McCloud's Man Made Home" on Channel 4 Where he builds a eco-friendly cabin in the woods.

McCloud presented Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour on Channel 4 during the late summer and early autumn of 2009. The four part series saw McCloud retracing the popular tour of European cities and sites of classical antiquity undertaken over the last four centuries by upper class, primarily British, young men of means, and describing their subsequent impact on British customs and architecture.