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Alison Kirkham, Commissioning Editor for Factual Formats and Features, today unveiled two new six-part series across ´óÏó´«Ã½ One and ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two for 2011. Sarah Beeny is to join the ´óÏó´«Ã½ for the first time to present Village SOS on ´óÏó´«Ã½ One and Caroline Quentin is to present Restoration Home on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

Village SOS is produced by ´óÏó´«Ã½ Cymru Wales for ´óÏó´«Ã½ One and follows an attempt to breathe new life into rural villages fighting to survive by starting up new businesses. Restoration Home on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two is produced by Remarkable Television, an Endemol Company, and follows private owners of crumbling historic buildings as they save them from ruin and restore them into wonderful 21st-century homes.

Alison Kirkham said: "Formats and Features on ´óÏó´«Ã½ One and ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two reflect life around us – whether that's the very real issue of starting a business, the threat to rural villages and giving everything up to move to the country on ´óÏó´«Ã½ One in Village SOS, or whether it's a more in-depth look at history, restoration and reclamation through ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two's Restoration Home.

"We're also thrilled to have such experienced and knowledgeable talent joining the channels to add to the diverse line-up of presenters. Not only are Sarah Beeny and Caroline Quentin popular personalities but their backgrounds and personal experiences lend themselves perfectly to the themes in their respective programmes. Sarah Beeny is a shrewd business woman and entrepreneur and Caroline Quentin has a background in restoring homes – both are passionate communicators."

In Village SOS for ´óÏó´«Ã½ One, Sarah Beeny follows the triumphs, tears and tantrums in six villages around Britain as they take on ambitious schemes to start new businesses and revitalise their local communities. Sarah, who maintains her own property and investment business and owns successful internet sites as well as being one of TV's best-loved home improvement experts, follows the progress of the villages as they tackle the realities of turning their brilliant first ideas into viable business projects.

The six villages, which were all awarded grants from the Big Lottery Fund to start their new enterprises, are filmed across a year as they kick-start their new ventures. The series is produced by Nicola Pointer for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Cymru Wales and the executive producer is Meredith Chambers and Pete Lawrence for the ´óÏó´«Ã½.

In Restoration Home, Caroline Quentin has a deep passion for old buildings and admits to being a serial home restorer over the last decade. With the help of architectural expert Kieran Long, and social historian Dr Kate Williams, Restoration Home turns detective to unravel the extraordinary lives of the properties.

As the new owners transform the buildings into their homes, the family trees of these crumbling ruins start to emerge. Tales of kings and queens, murder, civil unrest, moments that shocked and shaped Britain are revealed as these once forgotten gems are brought back to life.

As each building is rescued from the brink of dereliction by its new owners, secrets long since forgotten of previous ones will be revealed. Executive produced by Annette Clarke for Remarkable Television, Lisa Edwards is the Commissioning executive producer for the ´óÏó´«Ã½.

Notes to Editors

Formats and Features on ´óÏó´«Ã½ One include a broad range of programming from shows about broad issues and consumer journalism such as Great British Waste Menu and Watchdog, to formatted shows about complex topics like science and engineering in Wallace And Gromit's Cracking Inventions and The Boat That Guy Built, business and countryside issues in Village SOS and the hugely popular returning series Crimewatch, Countryfile, Antiques Roadshow, Points Of View and DIY SOS.

Formats and Features on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two are focused on in-depth knowledge from history in Restoration Home to film through Home Movie Roadshow, the story of our island in returning series Coast to harnessing really popular presenters like Giles and Sue on sustainability or Oz and Hugh on wine. 

The channel also has a vast portfolio of gardening shows which include Gardeners' World, Alan Titchmarsh's Garden Secrets, Alan At Highgrove, Monty Don's Italian Gardens and topical strands Chelsea and Hampton Court flower shows. ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two features also include cookery through talent as diverse as Nigella, The Hairy Bikers, Raymond Blanc, Lorraine Pascale, Sophie Dahl and Rick Stein.

AH