Jay Blades revisits childhood home in new documentary: ‘Things are so different’

Virgin Radio

3 May 2022, 11:34

Jay Blades has revisited the places he grew up for a new Channel 5 documentary titled No Place Like Home.

The Repair Shop star is presenting the three-part documentary all about him returning to his childhood neighbourhood of Hackey in East London to learn about its history and revisit his past.

Speaking to RadioTimes.com, he said: "The sad thing is when you're a kid, you remember things a particular way and then when you go back there, it's like, 'Oh, that's different.'

"And obviously the area has to develop, it's more gentrified now, but things are so different. I don't really see it the way that I used to see it."

When the presenter was asked whether he found it difficult to look back at the flatshare he lived in during some low points in his life in Bethnal Green, Blades said: “No, I tell you what, it was a really beautiful experience.

"It was just uplifting. Going back to the Peabody estate, to me, it's like, 'You've come such a long way from where you were there.' It just took me a minute. I was like, 'Let me just pause for a minute and find out how that feels for me.'"

During that episode, he also discovers that George Peabody- the founder of the Peabody Estates where Blades lived- had connections to the slave trade and used that money to build the property.

He added: “There was so much linked to the slave trade and people that had money were doing things, and yes they were doing things for the better but they had got that money from the worst.”

This project with Channel 5 comes after Blades’ Learning to Read at 51 documentary for BBC One, which was a huge success.

As the title suggests, the programme followed Jay on his difficult journey when learning how to read as an adult, a struggle a lot of adults face in the UK.

Speaking exclusively to virginradio.co.uk on the red carpet at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards in March, Blades revealed there would be more documentaries in the pipeline.

He said: “It’s helping a lot of people, and there’s more stuff to come. Wait until you see what’s coming, unbelievable.”

Jay Blades: No Way Like Home airs on Channel 5 at 9pm on Tuesday 3rd May.