Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr - Season 3

Ten aspiring interior designers on the cusp of turning professional take part in the biggest design challenge of their lives. Competing to win their first official commercial contract, with the Watergate Bay Hotel in Cornwall, the designers face a different commercial brief each week, with their spaces scrutinized by head judge Michelle Ogundehin. 

This week, Michelle is joined by fashion designer turned interior designer Matthew Williamson. The challenge they set is to transform five upmarket rental apartments in Manchester. Working in pairs, the designers must decorate a living room or master bedroom and a shared home office. They have just two days, £1,500 and two tradesmen to help them get the job done. 

After a tough first week transforming upmarket apartments in Manchester, the remaining nine designers return to Michelle's design studio on the south coast to find out about their next challenge. Welcomed by host Alan Carr, they are happy to discover that this week they are going to be able to work on their own for the first time.

Michelle tells them that she's sending them to the Surrey Hills, to the fabulous Wotton House. With Grade II listed gardens, this grand hotel, which was once home to the aristocratic Evelyn family, has nine bedrooms that are tired and in dire need of an update. The designers have a bedroom each, and Michelle asks them to create a space that reflects their signature style but with a 'British eccentric' twist.

Helping Michelle survey the spaces is guest judge Guy Oliver. Having designed the interiors for some of the most well-known hotels in London, including Claridges and the Connaught, Guy knows everything there is to know about classy hotels and discerning customers.

Eight designers remain to battle it out to win the life-changing design contract at one of the UK's top hotels.

Arriving at Michelle's Brighton studio, the contestants discover that this weeks' task is an unusual brief. Gordano School in Bristol has four tired common rooms that need some love and attention. Working in teams of two, the designers must spruce up the common rooms and an adjoining office. The two weakest designers will be sent home, upping the stakes in this third challenge.

Before they depart for Bristol, the designers pitch their ideas to their youngest and most particular clients to date, as the school's students arrive at the studio to hear their plans. The teams must come up with plans that reflecting each house's unique animal mascot and colour, creating an impact but remaining practical enough to survive daily use by the students.

Helping Michelle decide who has met the brief is guest judge Sophie Robinson. Renowned for her love of colour and all things bold, judging these bright common rooms is right up her alley. Michelle and Sophie are blown away by some of the designs but underwhelmed by others, and when the teams return to Michelle's design studio to hear the verdict from Alan, two designers find that that their time has come to an end, leaving just six designers to fight another day.

With just six designers left, the competition is hotting up. Arriving at Michelle's Brighton studio, the designers discover their next challenge. They are off to the cathedral city of Salisbury to transform three very different shops.

Working in pairs, they must give three retail businesses a new lease of life. But before they hit the high street, they must first meet their clients and take it in turns to pitch their design ideas. The three businesses are a bridal shop, a homeware shop and a lingerie shop – and one contestant isn't happy with the business they've been assigned to! One designer from each pairing will be chosen to lead on the overall design, so whoever loses the pitch will have to act as an assistant to their teammate.

Helping Michelle decide who should stay or go this week is the queen of shops herself, Mary Portas. Known for her straight-talking and no-nonsense approach, she knows what makes shoppers hit the high street rather than shop online. There's success for one team who nailed the brief, but the other two teams must face Michelle and Mary to justify their design decisions. One more designer will be eliminated, leaving five left to fight another day.

This week, the designers arrive in Brighton and find out it's time to work solo.

Michelle tells them to get into the spirit of the staycation, as they're off to north Wales to a glamping site. With a chance to showcase their individual abilities, they'll each have a shepherd's hut to transform into a boutique bolthole in the tranquil Welsh countryside.

With only five designers remaining, competition is getting tough. Before they get going, Michelle gives each of them a bespoke brief and tells them their client is a brand new business, so they need to work their magic. They'll be designing their smallest spaces so far, so practicality is key, but they must also be sympathetic to their surroundings. With so little to choose between them, she tells them that she wants to see hands-on skills – as well as maximum creativity.

The designers arrive on the Llyn Peninsula near the Welsh coast and are impressed with what they find at the site. The newly built huts are a blank canvas, with one designer worried that they might ruin what's already a lovely space. With briefs ranging from rustic chic to romantic, each designer takes a different approach to turning these tiny spaces into luxury living accommodation, with the challenge of an ensuite shower room and an outdoor space thrown in for good measure.

As the challenge comes to an end, the storm clouds roll in, as do the judges, Michelle and the legendary Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. Two huts strike them as pitched perfectly at the target market, but they are less sure about the other three, questioning whether the designers have taken the right approach for the rural surroundings.

Just four designers remain to fight it out for a place in the semi-finals. Arriving at Michelle's studio, they are split into teams of two and given their next challenge - the redesign of two cafes in the seaside town of Margate.

The finished venues need to attract both daytime and evening crowds, so the key to the task is delivering multifunctional spaces, with each team member taking ownership for their own zones. Before heading to Kent, the teams get a steer from their new clients via a Zoom meeting. One team learns that they must channel a cool Caribbean vibe, with their cafe also doubling up as an evening venue that hosts gigs and DJs. The other team has a seafront cafe, whose owners are looking for a design that avoids seaside cliché but has a welcoming vibe that matches their ambition to provide reasonably priced food for the whole community. Two different businesses, but for the designers the same goal - to take a step closer to winning the biggest commercial contract of their lives.

Assisting Michelle this week is guest judge Ross Bailey. CEO of AppearHere, he has an in-depth knowledge of what makes small hospitality businesses sink or swim.

It's semi-finals week, and the remaining three contestants are aiming to deliver their best designs to date, in the hope of winning a place in the big final.

Michelle reveals that for their next project they will be working solo. Each has a luxury holiday lodge to upgrade, including an open-plan kitchen, living and dining space, as well as an outside terrace. These beige lakeside lodges in the heart of the Cotswolds may be luxurious, but design-wise they are the epitome of bland, so Michelle asks the designers to make their mark and really impress her with some design flair.

With individual themes to work to, each designer takes quite a different approach. One goes against their natural instincts and opts for a bold primary colour scheme, drawing inspiration from a classic 80s movie. Another competitor ignores colour completely, hoping that their sophisticated monochrome scheme will appeal to their 'friends' getaway' target market. And for the third lodge the designer picks a nautical theme, using Cotswold stone, wooden panels on the walls and luxury linens on the sofas.

On hand to help Michelle this week is guest judge and queen of dark and moody Abigail Aherne. After a strong showing from all the semi-finalists, Michelle must make a difficult choice as she announces who will be leaving. After a competitive seven weeks, one designers' dream is over, but the final two now have a shot at winning their first commercial contract.

Having survived seven tough challenges, this week the two finalists go head-to-head for the ultimate prize. Awaiting the winner is a career-defining contract to design an apartment for an upmarket coastal resort on the Cornish coast.

Judge Michelle Ogundehin dispatches the finalists to London's vibrant Soho district, where each designer takes on the redesign of a trendy bar. Both establishments have two distinct areas in need of a makeover: a ground-floor bar that must appeal to the daytime trade and an intimate basement cocktail lounge for late-night drinking and entertaining.

One finalist decides to rip out the tiki-style basement bar and replace it with some good old 1970s glamour. But it quickly becomes a demolition zone as they decide to knock down the bar completely and relocate it to the other side of the room. Unfortunately, the more they rip out, the more problems they unearth.

Down the road, the other finalist is struggling with their British members club theme. Will vintage finds including giant Ibizan parasols and rattan furniture really fit with the cool chic vibe that the owner is after?

To help her choose the series champion, Michelle is joined by fashion designer turned interiors expert Matthew Williamson and the owner of the London Cocktail Club, Sarah Willingham.