Presenter Nick Knowles and his DIY SOS team of heroes put real into reality show

Add to the list Strictly, I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here and Big Brother, all are vanity, veneer, vacuity and a virulent desire for fame/more fame.

Whether it’s Maya Jama, Claud and Tess or Ant and Dec, the presenters are interested only in themselves, their egos bigger than a house.

The antithesis of all that – putting the real into reality show – is DIY SOS. The rebuild-a-home-in-days show has muck, mess heart and soul.

The opener to the 34th series of DIY SOS – Independence for Isla – had everything. Laugther – a shower than speaks French – tears, struggle, determination and victory. It was gritty, grimy, tough and soft in the middle.

The premise of DIY SOS is that a team of builders arrive at a house somewhere in the UK on a rescue mission – to transform the premises and make them fit purpose.

Isla was born with a rare genetic disorder, mandibuloacral dysplasia, which makes her bones brittle and causes her major organs to age prematurely.

She could not reach door handles, light switches or the sink – everyday things, like her mum Stacey said, other people take for granted.

Unsaid, but underlying the whole show, was Isla, who had her eighth birthday during the making of the episode – that element was a show in itself – will die sooner rather than later.

Led by Nick Knowles, like a knight in shining armour or, rather, a presenter in a hard hat, a team of at least 160 people arrived at Isla’s semi-detatched home in Aylestone, Leicester, ready to knock down walls to change Isla and her family’s life for the better.

In nine days, builders, painters, plasters, plasters, carpet fitters, curtain hangers, gardeners, transformed bedrooms, built an extension, intalled a downstairs bathroom, put up stair rails and lowered door handles.

The show is covered in brick dust and buried under rubble – rough, ready and real.

I cannot put it any better than Stacey: “It’s overwhelming to think that people would come together, not for money or recognition, but simply out of the kindness of their hearts – giving their time and skills to change our lives,” she said in an interview.

Stacey was struggling – not with providing love for Isla and her older sister Paige – in a house impractical for Isla’s needs. Seeing Isla denied the independence she craved was breaking her mum’s heart.

Exuberant, funny, confident Isla was the star of the show. She loved everything to ‘infinity’.

Knowles’ no-nonesense, shoulder-to-the-wheel style is perfect for the show. He also knows how to talk to people and empathise with them.

This is team work and he is backed up by electrician Billy Byrne, furniture maker Radha Siyver, plasterer Chris Frediani, designer Gabrielle Blackman and garden expert Ashley Edwards. DIY SOS project manager is Ian Hodgkinson.

You never hear them moan or bicker – have discussions, oh yes – but they get on with it because they know it is not about them.

Their commitment to Isla’s project was honest and whole-hearted. Their interaction with the eight-year-old joyously open.

The scores of volunteers who upped-tools are also heroes who deserve and get the cheers.

DIY SOS reaffirms that there are good and great in Britain. It is on BBC One on Friday at 8pm and on iPlayer.