Star search - for houses

What do they do: Doing a kitchen or loft extension - and want your house to be on TV? Bernice Harrison finds out what the producers of interiors shows are looking for

If like nearly half a million viewers you're a fan of Duncan Stewart's television series About the House, you'll be familiar with the sight of the white-haired architect clambering through the lofts and across the foundations of house extensions and domestic building sites.

There's something reassuring about the way he quizzes builders on mysterious but vital details such as insulation levels and foundation depths and his bubbling enthusiasm for each featured project sometimes even exceeds the homeowner's.

Apart from the chance to get on the telly, it's the "Duncan factor" that's one of the biggest lures tempting renovating homeowners to sign up to appear on the programme.

"Without stepping on anyone's toes, Duncan is on site as an adviser which people find really helpful," says Suzanne Kelly, the programme's producer, who is currently on the lookout for people to take part in this year's series. From time to time the programme is able to organise trade discounts but as regards freebees, that's about as good as it gets.

"Some people do think we're going to come into their house and redo it," says Kelly, "but what we actually do is piggy back on existing projects." The programme is back on air in September and already Kelly is assessing likely contenders. She's sourced most of the projects needed but this year finds that suitable small projects, such as kitchen or loft extensions are thin on the ground. She's currently looking for two such candidates.

A lot of people fall at the application stage because right from the start the programme needs a very detailed application including architect's drawings, site maps, planning permission and permission from the builder to film.

There have been cases in the past where the homeowners agreed to participate in the programme only to turn up on the first day of filming to have the builder going around like the General with his hand over his face or disappearing entirely at the sight of the camera.

Not that disappearing builders is exactly a rare occurrence but Kelly says that an additional benefit of being on the programme is that the production team tends to make sure that the building works to schedule - getting a film crew to turn up for a day is such a complicated and expensive business that when they arrive at the site they have to be sure that the project has reached the promised stage.

"We have been doing this programme for so long now that we have a very clear criteria for projects we want to put on air," says Kelly. "Apart from a good geographical spread around the country, we're trying to show best practice in design and building." Participants have to be 100 per cent committed, she says; if it's a couple, it's no use having the wife chatting happily about the work in progress while the husband scowls in the background.

A further incentive for being involved in the programme according to Kelly is that homeowners have a record of the work on film from start to finish.

To submit your project for consideration for inclusion in the 2004 series of About the House, email aboutthehouse@earthhorizons.ie or download an application form from the RTE website at www.rte.ie