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DIY SOS

Factual: Homes & Gardens

Nick Knowles and the team help transform the homes of families across Britain.

Nick Knowles and the team issue a call to arms and recruit friends, family and local trades to help transform the homes of families across Britain.

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DIY SOS: Series 29

Nick Knowles

Robi Dutta

Hamish Summers

Lauren Hurrell

Matthew Skilton

DIY SOS: Series 29: Episode 3: The Big Build - West Bromwich

Reality

The Big Build - West Bromich

Episode 3

Episode 3: The Big Build - West Bromwich

Series 29

The Big Build - West Bromwich

BBC One - DIY SOS, Series 29, The Big Build - West Bromwich

Nick Knowles and the team help a grieving family who are stuck in a tiny home.

With a family stuck in a tiny home, unable to deal with their grief, the team and West Bromwich volunteers step in to help Sandra keep the family together.

In West Bromwich, Crystal Chambers, a mother of two young children, visited her local GP and hospital on numerous occasions over two years and was left undiagnosed before finally being admitted in 2015. Upon admission to hospital, Crystal was suddenly given the devastating news that she had advanced stomach cancer, which had spread to her spine. Tragically, Crystal passed away a few weeks later, aged 32. Her children, eight-year-old Deago and four-year-old Ameira, were left potentially without a home as well as a mother.

It was therefore left to Crystal's mother Sandra, who has dedicated her entire life to working with families in crisis, and Crystal's 19-year-old brother Ziggy, who is in full-time education, to take the children into their tiny two-bedroom home.

As a result, Sandra, Deago and Ameira share one small bedroom, with a double bed, a camp bed and a toddler bed squeezed in. They don't have room for proper beds, let alone clothes, toys and space to call their own. They desperately need help to create a home for the children, so that they can start a new chapter in life - and give them each space to grieve and also to live long-term.

Sandra struggles with her grief and the challenges of being a surrogate mother to her grandchildren. She has needed to work longer hours to keep the family afloat, so retirement is no longer an option. Ziggy is also grieving and is now a surrogate father to his niece and nephews. 

This may be one of the smallest houses DIY SOS has taken on, but this small house offers up big challenges to the team. With a family stuck in a tiny home, unable to deal with their grief, the team and generous West Bromwich volunteers step in to drastically improve this family's home and guarantee that Sandra can keep the family together.

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Nick's team helps give people the homes they need across the UK.

Nick Knowles and his DIY SOS team travel the country, bringing communities together and transforming people's lives by giving them the homes they need.

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Series 29

Episode 3: The Big Build - West Bromwich

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