'This family needs our help': Portsmouth electrician spent over 70 hours helping family on hit show DIY SOS
He wanted to use his skills to give back to the community
A Portsmouth electrician will make his TV debut tonight after spending over 70 hours helping a family on the hit tv show DIY SOS.
Tom Bickerton, director of Bickerton Electrical Services, applied to go on the show to assist a family that had been the victim of a cowboy builder who had stolen thousands from them.
“It was advertised on the internet that they were carrying out a show, and they were looking for volunteers in this area,” said Mr Bickerton.
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“I've always tried to get on it, but it's always been a bit too far away, but they rang me up and said, you've been accepted. We turned up on day one for the trades day, where you go down and you get to view the property before the work.
“I looked at it and thought ‘Yeah, everything has got to stop now because this family needs our help.’
“We were there for the whole week, working from 7 in the morning till 10, 11 o'clock at night, every day for free. We gave up our own time and work and had to speak to local businesses to get materials for free or donated.
“It's all a real charitable effort. It's not like the show buys the stuff. All the materials that you'll see in tonight's show have all been kindly donated by local businesses in and around the areas.”
Mr Bickerton was asked by Billy Byrne, the show’s in-house electrician, to take the lead for the electrician job and overseeing a team of 18 electricians.
He said: “I didn't know anything about them, who they were or what they were like. I just had to get together, meet them on the first day, and we all went to work and rewired a house, putting in all new lighting, power, external, internal, supplies for solar.
“I am not exaggerating, the wiring on that house is the most complex wiring that has ever been carried out in their show's history, and that's a fact.”
Mr Bickerton has always wanted to take part in a DIY SOS show and use his skills to help other people.
He said: “Everyone has had so much turmoil in the last 10 years, prices are going up and people are not as well off and less fortunate than yourself. It is just nice to be nice, and I think sometimes if you've got a skill, you need to give something back to the community.
“That's one thing I think we've lost now. We've lost our community identity in the sense of that, there doesn't seem to be that community spirit anymore. And that's one of the things I liked with DIY. You can see a community coming together to help someone out who's in distress.”
“There’s tradespeople, there's local volunteers from local businesses. People who just volunteer, who want to be on the show just to help out moving stuff, making tea, coffee, people donating food, local businesses donating their, like, you know, free skips, that kind of thing. It's a real, like, I would say, community effort to get involved.
“I’ve been an electrician for 20 plus years and I think it was the first job I've ever been on where everyone got on together!”
Mr Bickerton will be watching the show with his partner and his mother tonight (October 6) at 8pm on BBC One.
“My mum doesn't know I'm on it yet, so it will be a nice surprise. I'm looking forward to it,” he said.