TY PENNINGTON HEADS OVERSEAS FOR ONE-HOUR SPECIAL, “TY’S GREAT BRITISH ADVENTURE,” AUGUST 2 ON ABC
July 13, 2009 by J!-ENT
What happens when you send America’s most energetic and enthusiastic makeover king to a sleepy village in England to help revamp the historic town park? For Ty Pennington, host of the Emmy Award-winning series “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” the opportunity to mobilize an entire community was very enticing, but the challenges were greater than he’s ever faced – a village he’d never heard of full of people he’d never met, all of whom are expecting him to pull off a miracle. With his passport in hand and his reputation on the line, Ty crossed the Atlantic and embarked on the journey that can only be described as “Ty’s Great British Adventure,” a one-hour special airing SUNDAY, AUGUST 2 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on ABC.
The seaside town of Portreath is located in southwest England in the popular tourist area of Cornwall. For centuries this town was an important player in the mining industry, but recent economic downturns have hurt the village, and what was once a bustling port is now a sleepy enclave. Desperate to revitalize this picturesque spot on the Atlantic, locals have come together in an effort to bring life back to the town’s park. Located in the center of town, this park is a natural gathering place for the community.
But infighting and indecision amongst the town leaders and community members led to a stalled effort to get anything done, and the once-thriving park suffered further neglect and eventually became a rusty, muddy mess. Desperate for help, the community leaders called on Ty. The town figured if anyone could light a fire under the committees and get things moving in the right direction, it could only be Ty.
Never one to turn away from a challenge, Ty decided this could be an exciting adventure – and he wasn’t disappointed. With only a week to complete the project, Ty headed across the pond and got to work. He landed in a region he didn’t know to lead a project with total strangers. The only thing he had going for him was that at least he spoke the language-or so he thought!
Once in Portreath, Ty was embraced by the Cornish people, although at times his American approach to getting things done wasn’t immediately a hit. But was their enthusiasm for having Ty help them enough to move the project forward and get the park finished? With a seemingly impossible deadline and no money or contacts, Ty tackles the project full throttle, and the result is definitely a Great British Adventure.
“Ty’s Great British Adventure” is executive-produced by Ty Pennington and Leigh Seaman for TPTV and Joe Houlihan and Melanie Leach for TwoFour Productions UK. This program carries a TV-PG parental guideline.
Tags: ABC, American Entertainment News, Ty Pennington, Ty's Great British Adventure
I live in Delaware and never miss Ty Pennington’s Home Makeover shows (and even was fortunate enough last year to help on one of the renovations) so could not MISS last night’s “Great British Adventure”. It was one of the best I’ve seen with Ty! He was hilarious — I laughed myself silly when he was playing with the kids in the ocean and when the miner scared him with the dynamite in the mine, the scenery was unbelievable, and his interactions with the Brits (locals and construction crews) was quite something to see! I sure hope ABC TV here plan more overseas ‘adventures’!
Ok I just want to clarify something. This town this was filmed in is actually called Langholm, its my home town although I currently live in Texas. It is NOT an English village. We are not Cornish.
To Hollie Blakeley,
Ty has been filming in britain 3 times now. Each time for a channel called ‘(UKTV) Home’ The first time, he went to the village of Portreath in Cornwall, it takes about 8 months to get these programmes broadcast and even longer for them to go on to other channels. It proved such a hit that he was asked to come back and do 2 more british makeovers, the first in Portishead (i think broadcast winter 2009 on Home) and then Langholm (almost deffo broadcast 2010, also on Home).
If you’re all wondering, I live in Langholm, I helped make the grass mound on day 6 (the tall one in grey 3/4 length shorts, not with the scouts, i got a t-shirt).
The Portreath series was great, Langholm will be simply magnificent (especialy if you know the events as little as 3 weeks before filming began).