The Restoration Man

George Clarke returns for a new series of the show that helps rescue neglected architectural treasures across Britain. Young couple Steven Crame and Marina Bacchelli were looking for their first home to own together in Berkshire, when they found a disused water pumping station nestling in its own ancient woodland. The couple threw themselves into the task of converting the huge brick shed into a modern four-bed family home, while preserving a 15-tonne crane as a central feature of their lounge. But a new-born baby, flooding and spiralling costs add to the pressure.

George Clarke meets Cheshire couple Andrew Jones and Michele Gibbons, who plan to turn an 85ft art deco water tower into the six-storey 'end house' of their dreams. The conversion proves an incredible challenge for the builders, as they must cut through double reinforced concrete to build new floors and fit over 20 new windows. It takes almost a year to get the tower wind and water-tight as, meanwhile, the couple must come to terms with fact that, despite a dislike of art deco furniture, they need to furnish their towering example of architectural history in a fitting style.

In Lancashire, Matt Whittle and his father-in-law-to-be Mike Readfern pool their resources to convert an enormous water filtration plant into a pair of semi-detached houses sharing an internal garden atrium. Family relations are tested as the huge scale of the project makes the schedule drag. George Clarke encourages the pair to persevere and make the most of the unique opportunity that the internal atrium gives them - to create a garden for all weathers.

George Clarke follows Jude McKelvey as she restores a dilapidated 17th-century barn into a family home to share with her two boys - a project made all the more difficult by the tight conservation restrictions on the Grade II listed building. The timber-framed structure needs months of painstaking craftsmanship and the 44,000 clay tiles must be replaced by hand. Can Jude meet the enormous challenge of dividing up the barn's cavernous interior without destroying its heritage?

George catches up with Neil and Jackie at their old fisherman's church in Brixham, Devon, and discovers how the restoration project changed their lives beyond recognition.