'Naughty but wholesome' Scotland's Home of the Year is back

Banjo Beale, who made his debut as a judge on Scotland’s Home of the Year last spring, says he is a “lot less nervous” this time around.

“I’m just relieved they asked me back,” he says, with a laugh. “SHOTY is such a hallowed institution and people are SO passionate about the show, it felt great that their response to me after the first series was okay.

“I’m very glad I didn’t muck it up.”

Australian-born Banjo, who won the BBC series Interior Design Masters in 2022, lives on Mull with his husband Rohan, who runs a cheese-making business and café.

Since winning the show, Banjo has presented his own interior design TV series, Designing the Hebrides, on BBC Two, and he has published a book, Wild Isle Style.

Now he is back on SHOTY and, he acknowledges, he was not the new boy for long. Veteran judge Michael Angus left the show last year, and architect Danny Campbell has taken his place on the panel alongside seasoned interiors expert Anna Campbell Jones.

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There is a particularly funny moment in the new series when Danny mentions a room full of "objets d’art", to which Banjo responds: “Objets d’art are what obnoxious people call knick-knacks.”

He laughs at the memory. “Architects and designers can be so verbose, and use lots of big words and talk a lot of fluff - I like to think I’m there to represent the average person,” he says.

“But it’s so much fun. Danny is like our cheeky wee brother. We’re like the three musketeers.”

This year’s series kicks off on Monday (April 29) on BBC One Scotland, in the north east and northern isles.

“People have really raised the bar this series,” says Banjo, in awe. “Some are actual showstoppers.

“The most successful homes are the ones that are full of character, that give a sense of the owner’s personality, rather than ones where an interior designer has been brought in.

“I like a place that feels like people live in it, rather than one that looks like a showhome.”

He adds: “I think people love SHOTY because it’s a combination of many things – a bit of interior design, a bit of psychology into how people live, and a peep into people’s homes. It’s a little bit naughty and a little bit wholesome at the same time.”

Banjo is also preparing for a second series of his heartwarming property make-over show, Designing the Hebrides, which will return to TV screens in the autumn.

“I’m going ‘abroad’ for this one,” he jokes. “As well as Mull, we visit Harris and Uist this time, which is exciting.”

He is working on his second book, which focuses on “beautiful Scottish spaces” as he examines renovations and design triumphs around the country, and he is “obsessed”, he says, with the current series of Interior Design Masters, the show which made him a household name.

“Oh, I can’t stop watching it,” he says, with a laugh. “I do think I’d have been given a run for my money if I’d been on this year, they have really stepped up a gear.

“I watch it and really feel for them, because it is a hard slog, that show. It was simultaneously the best and worst thing I have ever done, because it was so hard, but so rewarding.”

Actually, he agrees, the reality show – in which presenter Alan Carr and interiors guru Michelle Ogundehin preside over 10 aspiring designers as they take on a series of challenges - changed his life.

“I was literally in a dark cellar, turning cheeses, when I applied for the show,” he says, smiling.

“I did it on a whim, never thought I’d get in. I mean, like everyone else watching Interior Design Masters, and probably SHOTY as well, I had this niggling feeling I might like to be an interior designer, but didn’t actually believe it would happen.

“I’ll always be grateful to the show, because it gave me the career I wanted, but didn’t really think was possible.”

Scotland's Home of the Year starts on BBC One Scotland at 8.30pm on Monday, April 29.