Sounds like former Coronation Street favourite Ryan Thomas and his reality TV star fiancée Lucy Mecklenburgh need to get in touch with DIY SOS…
Talk TV hears the pair were hoping for their own home makeover show to tie in with their ambitious plans for the Manchester pad they’ve just bought.
The couple even had meetings with TV channels but the project never got off the ground.
Now Ryan, 36, and Lucy, 29, are having to plough ahead minus the TV crew following their exploits. And minus the freebies…
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A source tells us: “Ryan and Lucy thought their makeover show plan would be a dead cert for ITV, given their previous profiles on Coronation Street and The Only Way Is Essex.
“It would have had the added bonus that they’d have got lots of free labour and materials, and been paid to appear in the show.
“But ITV turned them down. They’ve also punted the idea to Channel 5 but haven’t heard anything back.”
Ryan and Lucy even went to the trouble of creating an extra aura of fascination around the house near Manchester by telling fans that Ryan purchased the place without Lucy’s knowledge.
But it wasn’t enough to spark the interest of telly execs.
TV insiders say ITV felt the idea was too close to some of their other reality show offerings, such as ITVBe’s Sam & Billie: The Mummy Diaries – in which Billie Faiers and husband Greg Shepherd plan to overhaul their home.
So instead, Ryan and Lucy – who are parents to one-year-old Roman – have set up an Instagram page to chart their property makeover.
It’s another ITV snub for Ryan after it was reported that a second instalment of his Mancs in Mumbai documentary – in which he and his twin brothers Adam and Scott, 31, went to India with their late dad to research their heritage – would not be going ahead.
The brothers had hoped to travel to South America and the Caribbean to look into more family ties, but it was claimed ITV wasn’t keen after initially promising a second series.
