Changing Rooms: Makeover TV show is back - what did critics think?

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has returned to Changing Rooms alongside new host Anna Richardson

The knowingly kitsch and "dangerous" designs included a wall of fake hair in a bedroom and a bright blue swing seat suspended from the living room ceiling.

At one point, leather trouser-wearing Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen asked: "Can you actually smell my thighs burning?"

Yes, Changing Rooms - the home makeover show with questionable taste but high entertainment value - returned to screens after 17 years on Wednesday.

The Guardian's Lucy Mangan said the makeovers "remain uniformly dreadful".

But, the TV critic added: "In some ways, this is comforting."

The show originally started off on BBC Two in 1996 before moving to BBC One in 1998, where it ran until 2004. It is now being shown on Channel 4.

Anna Ryder-Richardson, Carol Smillie and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen on Changing Rooms in 1997

Llewelyn-Bowen is the only member of the original line-up to have returned. Presenter Carol Smillie said she would be "cheering them all on", despite being replaced by Naked Attraction's Anna Richardson.

Richardson took over from Davina McCall, who had been announced to host the reboot. New designer duo Jordan Cluroe and Russell Whitehead are also in the 2021 line-up.

Lucy Mangan wrote: "LL-B's efforts in a Swansea sitting room result in what looks like a flamingo's fever dream (not in a good way) and the bedroom a few doors down, done by Jordan and Russell, contains the most viscerally horrible piece of homemade 'art' I have ever seen."

She was referring to the display of long blonde hair in the room that was meant to be modelled on a Las Vegas drag show.

Jordan Cluroe and Russell Whitehead are among the new cast of makeover experts

The Times reviewer Carol Midgley said: "Rows of identical blond wigs looked as though a troupe of severed cheerleaders' heads had been nailed above the radiator."

Despite that, it was "good to have Changing Rooms back, and Llewelyn-Bowen is an excellent tonic", she decided.

Of the hair wall, The Sun's TV editor Rod McPhee said: "It looked like a serial killer's sick trophy wall covered with the scalps of various female victims.

"Even this, though, prompted nothing more than a few bewildered frowns from the owners of the room and, I'm sorry to say, there wasn't a tear in sight."

An average of 1.4 million people tuned in live, according to overnight ratings, and the response from viewers was mixed.

But Llewelyn-Bowen was, most agreed, still the star of the show.

"Laurence is as bananas as ever, introducing himself to postwoman Lisa and her daughter Kirsty by staying absolutely still and reclining on a sofa in a pair of leather trousers like he was posing for Jack Dawson on the Titanic," wrote Metro's Emma Kelly.

But Kelly was among the reviewers who said, if anything, the designs on the new incarnation of the show - which has moved from the BBC to Channel 4 - were not tasteless enough.

"It was all highly finished, relatively tasteful, if not a bit mad, and if you took down the wig art, you could totally live with all of it," she said.

"I think what's missing for me was the sense of naffness that came with the original Changing Rooms. As skilled as all the interior designers and carpenters were, every room came away looking a little bit crap.

"You knew only one side of the door was painted, there was always one accessory too many, and the colours never matched. But that's what gave it its hysterical charm.

"Now, sponsors Dulux aren't going to let the designers pick terrible colours, and everything looks polished and Instagrammable. I don't think we'll see a single neighbour sever their relationships after this series, and that's a crying shame."

The Telegraph's Anita Singh, meanwhile, wrote: "It's still good fun, but feels generic. Changing Rooms spawned countless imitators, which means that nothing here seemed fresh...

"While there was much to enjoy in Llewelyn-Bowen's mickey-taking, the ironic tone didn't quite work for the rest of the show.

"Although we watched the original series in the hope of seeing awful designs and homeowners' tears, there was an essential sweetness at its heart, exemplified by Carole Smillie's earnest presentation.

"Here, Richardson invites us to snigger along from the beginning, and the contestants are in on the joke, which takes away any real sense of jeopardy."

Another teapot moment?

The first episode featured neighbours in south Wales, and the show's return gave many fans a chance to reminisce about the original show's most infamous moment, which involved a participant's cherished collection of antique teapots.

"They ended up in pieces on the floor after designer Linda Barker's floating shelf suspended from the ceiling decided to give up its fight with gravity and float no-more," Wales Online's property editor Joanne Ridout reminded us.

On Wednesday, viewers waited with bated breath to see if the swing seat would go the same way.

"Gulp - could this be Swansea's teapot moment?" Ridout asked.

Fortunately for the home owners but unfortunately for the entertainment value, it was not.