Amanda & Alan's Italian Job S01 and S02 (1080p, soft English subt...
Amanda & Alan's Italian Job S01 and S02 (1080p, soft English subtitles)
Besties Amanda Holden and Alan Carr roll up their sleeves to bring crumbling Italian homes back to life. As they embrace the local lifestyle, it's demolition and la dolce vita.
E01 Amanda Holden and Alan Carr take on a project of a lifetime in the sun-kissed hills of rural Sicily. In a bid to breathe new life into forgotten towns, Italian municipalities are selling empty homes for one euro. Fulfilling a long-held ambition, Amanda purchases two dilapidated apartments in picture perfect Salemi and convinces best friend Alan to spend a summer renovating them, with the aim to create an Italian dream home. Arriving at the crumbling property for the first time, seeing the piles of rubbish and abandoned junk, it dawns on them that this is no holiday.
E02 Amanda and Alan take on their first major renovation project, designing a traditional Sicilian walled kitchen. Kicking off the demolition in 36-degree heat proves to be a trial for Alan, and he soon realises that taking on a build in a medieval hilltop town comes with its own unique challenges. With the help of project manager Scott, Amanda barters with the locals at a nearby marble factory as she bags a bargain for their feature island, and she brushes up on her culinary skills in Marsala, learning how to cook Sicily’s signature dish.
E03 Amanda and Alan divide and conquer as they renovate the bathrooms, but it soon becomes clear they’re not on the same page with two opposing schemes. Amanda’s unconvinced about Alan’s bidet and Alan tries to veto Amanda’s disco ball installation - but with firm ideas of what they want, neither will back down on their vision. In Alan’s quest to stay true to Sicilian culture, he treats Amanda to a visit to Marsala’s salt pans for a unique spa experience which turns out to be a lot less luxurious than they are expecting. Amanda’s dreams of a roll top bath come crashing down as Alan sets her the task of recycling the apartment’s existing one. Karma kicks in as his DIY skills are pushed to the limit with a masterclass in floor tiling.
E04 Alan takes charge designing the first bedroom, but doubt soon sets in as Amanda and Scott struggle to get on board with his artistic vision. To nail his ‘rustic chic’ look, Alan visits interior designer Marie at her 300-year-old palazzo and ropes in Amanda to help source vintage gems at Palermo’s famous flea market, but haggling in Italian isn’t their greatest strength. Celebrations are also in order as Amanda surprises Alan with a birthday boat trip along Sicily’s stunning Zingaro coast.
E05 Amanda and Alan turn their attention outside as they aim to transform the scruffy courtyard into a Mediterranean oasis. To brush up on their botany, they visit the magnificent gardens of one of Sicily’s biggest wine producers. As a reward for helping out with the grape harvest, they are wined and dined and given a surprise serenade by owner Jose. Keen to create an authentic Sicilian design, Alan explores Sciacca’s famous ceramic scene and gets arty painting Moor heads. He also enlists the help of two acclaimed baroque-style painters to bring a touch of the island’s rich history with a surprise courtyard centrepiece. Amanda works on a much larger canvas, repairing the old courtyard walls, which turns out to be a far bigger job than they had anticipated.
E06 Amanda aims to bring a slice of Hollywood to Sicily with a banana leaf-patterned boudoir design for the master bedroom. Alan is concerned that Amanda’s camp theme is on the wrong side of tacky, so she takes him to visit one of Palermo’s most prestigious hotels to show how exuberant décor has enticed high-profile guests including composer Richard Wagner. To bring her vision to life, Amanda ropes in her DIY-loving dad to help build a bespoke four-poster bed, while Alan learns to kick back like the Italians do with a lesson in the art of doing nothing. There’s a last-minute panic for Amanda when she discovers Scott has never wallpapered before. Could her dreams be in tatters?
E07 Amanda and Alan face their final challenge as they join forces to renovate the last two rooms. Their dream of creating an open-plan living and dining room is dented when they discover the main structural wall dividing the two spaces requires a much smaller arch than they anticipated. For this final space, they agree to put their design differences to one side, but a disagreement over the shape of the arch threatens to divide them. Wanting to make the rooms feel as authentic as possible, Amanda and Alan take a boat trip along the stunning Zingaro nature reserve to get inspiration from the Sicilian landscape, and they enjoy sunset on horseback in the ancient Greek city of Selinunte.
E08 Alan and Amanda are on the home stretch as they take on the interiors for their open-plan living and dining room. Many hands make light work as they invite local friends Fabrizio, Maria Pia and Carlos over for a plastering party, but things soon get out of hand as a spillage nearly ruins their newly laid terrazzo floor. With Alan’s help, Scott designs a sleek marble dining table and gives Alan and Amanda a lesson in making bespoke wall lights out of vintage Sicilian tiles. The duo decide to divide and conquer on a shopping trip to the coastal city of Trapani: Amanda seeks modern soft furnishings for the living room, while Alan hunts for antique knick-knacks in the old town. Both come together to style the newly designed space and reveal their labour of love, aka Casa Alamanda, to their Sicilian family, throwing an emotional farewell party before they head home.
Series 2
E01 Amanda Holden and Alan Carr are packing their boiler suits once again after bagging another one-euro house – this time, in the idyllic region of northern Tuscany. Falling in love with the romance and history of an old building, Alan purchases a dilapidated 17th-century house with a medieval watchtower in the rural hamlet of Fornovolasco, and ropes in best friend Amanda to spend their summer transforming it into another Italian dream home. However, arriving at the property for the first time, they discover it’s been left empty since the previous owner passed away. Full of damp, and with rotten floors and cracked windows, it dawns on them that a massive restoration job lies ahead.
E02 Best pals Amanda and Alan take on their first major renovation project, transforming the old dining room into a Tuscan living room. Failing to reach agreement on the colour scheme, the two venture off to try and get some inspiration from the colourful fishing village of Riomaggiore. Colour choice becomes the least of their worries though, when they discover the windows of their 17th-century home are unsalvageable and must be made from scratch. Luckily, another old feature can be saved, and with the help of Scott, the DIY duo restore the original chestnut ceiling beams, and Alan finds his stride while creating a feature-panelled wall. It’s not all hard graft though, as they venture out into the Apuan Alps and face their fears, taking flight with a 1,500 metre-long zip wire over the spectacular Lake Vagli.
E03 Amanda and Alan turn their attention to the great outdoors as they aim to tackle the garden. The overgrown patch of land on the side of the mountain has been untouched for more than a decade, and with no idea of what plants thrive in the Tuscan terrain, the best pals seek help from gardening oracle Warrie Price, who has spent over 30 years cultivating a 15-acre oasis. Keen to inject authentic Tuscan design into their project, Alan visits the ancient town of Impruneta in search of terracotta pots, but he is soon roped in to create his own centrepiece by taskmaster sisters Costanza and Gioia. Amanda calls in her green-fingered mum Judith to help purchase plants at a local garden centre, but gets more than she bargained for when Judith takes a liking to a handsome member of staff.
E04 Alan takes charge of tackling the first bedroom, and he doesn’t hold back with his design. Inspired by the romance and history of his favourite city Florence, he’s determined to have a mural, but Amanda fears his creative juices could turn into a flood. To nail his aesthetic, Alan travels to the outskirts of the Tuscan capital to meet Jane at her medieval home decorated in rare 14th-century frescos. She encourages him to take down his bedroom ceiling to unearth any original features. Hoping to restore the existing furniture that came with the house, Alan soon realises that it’s riddled with woodworm, so Amanda whisks him away to the Gulf of Poets to reinspire him.
E05 Amanda and Alan divide and conquer as they renovate the bathrooms. Amanda has big plans for converting one of the medieval tower rooms into a double height sumptuous en-suite complete with a Botticelli mural, roll-top bath and a gold resin floor, while Alan has the challenging task of transforming the small portaloo-sized bathroom into a minimalist wet room. Things don’t get off to the best of starts for Alan as he dismantles the old toilet, and Amanda’s dreams come crashing down as she discovers the ceiling she hoped to take down holds the tower together. To lift her spirits, Alan whisks Amanda away to the picturesque medieval town of San Gimignano, and the best friends get to grips with haggling at the oldest antiques market in Italy.
E06 Amanda meets her match as she aims to turn the dark second bedroom into a country chic boudoir, inspired by the Tuscan sunrise. To help bring her vision to life, local friends Luca and Alessandro invite Amanda and Alan to visit their recently renovated 19th-century farmhouse, which motivates Amanda to brighten up the bedroom by borrowing light from the hallway. Keen to create a piece de resistance, Amanda ropes in Scott to build a bespoke headboard and takes her first steps into the world of upholstery, while Alan secretly signs up to a painting masterclass with local artist Tony to surprise Amanda with a showpiece of his own.
E07 The DIY duo face their biggest renovation challenge yet, as Alan aims to transform the medieval tower room into a movie theatre inspired by Cinema Paradiso, while Amanda tries to turn the damp-ridden cellar carved out of the mountain’s rockface into a wine grotto. Hitting a brick wall with their ideas, Alan takes Amanda to the Guicciardini Strozzi Casona winery to meet descendants of Mona Lisa, princesses Irina and Natalia, for a tour of their ancient cellars and a tasting of their world-famous wines. Alan gets to work creating a bespoke seating area and ropes in Scott to give the entrance hall a much-needed makeover. Determined to make the most of her space, Amanda builds a path to access the cellar, but faces a hurdle when she discovers the rocky floor acts as a drain for water overflowing from the mountain. Local friend Warrie Price shakes off her renovation blues with some much-needed retail therapy in the medieval town of Pietrasanta.
E08 Alan and Amanda are on the home stretch as they join forces to renovate the kitchen. Hoping to create the heart of their Italian home, the best friends aim to build an authentic rustic Tuscan design and set out repurposing the old chestnut beds from Amanda’s bedroom to form the kitchen units. Alan brushes up on his culinary skills, learning how to cook the classic Italian dish ravioli with local friend Luca, and Amanda brings a touch of colour to the kitchen, covering the fireplace in handmade tiles. Keen to source local Carrara marble for their worktops, the duo visit an active quarry in the Apuan Alps but face a treacherous journey to get there. For one last Tuscan treat, new friend Warrie invites Amanda and Alan for an afternoon of truffle hunting before they bid an emotional farewell with a party for the friends they’ve made over the summer.
First broadcast: 2023 - 2025
Duration: 30 minutes per episode
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