Original subtitles

After six gruelling challenges,

it's the semifinals

and things are heating up.

This week, it's all about style, precision and execution.

Which designers will turn our judge's head

and who will get the chop?

Is that temperature all right, dear?

Are you married? I am.

Ten aspiring designers competing for one life-changing contract...

..to transform a top cocktail bar.

Last time...

Alan, I do.

..the designers made over wedding lodges.

And then the tent will be complete.

It's a mother duck.

While Tom and Monika went big with their signature styles...

Nice. Me, me, me, this week.

It's extremely Zen.

..Jack played it safe.

It's a gentle space that's had a gentle treatment.

But it was Temi who missed the mark.

The sofas felt so unloved.

Temi, that does mean that you will be leaving us.

Yeah. Thank you very much.

It's the semifinals.

And this week, the game is on,

as our three remaining designers battle it out

to earn a place in the final.

This is a moment, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's the semifinals.

Boom, boom, boom!

It's not going to be a little space.

It's going to be, here is this huge, vast space.

And I'm hoping for a tattoo shop.

Of course. Yeah, I know.

Michelle's expecting more from us

and it's definitely not the right time to take a backseat.

Yeah. The pressure is high.

Yeah. The stakes are high.

I am so close.

I obviously would love to actually, actually go into the final

and then actually maybe, actually maybe win this.

Hi. Hello. Hi, Alan.

You're semifinalists.

I know! Yeah. So how are you all feeling?

Are you feeling excited, nervous, shattered?

SHE CHUCKLES

Definitely the last one.

A combination of all of those things. Yeah.

Every single one of them. Yeah.

Now, there was one thing that kept coming up last week

and it was that gut feeling.

Now, Monika, you said you're going to go for it. Yes.

You weren't going to hold back. Yeah. It paid off. It did.

And I'm totally repeating it again. You're going to go for it again?

Absolutely. There's nothing to... Well, there's nothing to lose,

there's everything to lose, but there's no stopping me now. Yeah.

Jack, are you going to go for it this week?

Yeah, I think I learned from Monika last week when I visited

what she had done, and I was like, wow.

What about you, Tom?

Have you got anything left in the tank?

We'll have to wait and see. Ooh!

All three of you are so talented.

Is there a bond between all three of you?

I love Monika, but I can't stand...

Well, I'm sure you're all desperate to know what the next challenge is.

Let's go and see Michelle. Let's go.

Ooh, exciting.

Hi, Michelle. Hello. Hi.

Well done for getting this far.

It's a real achievement to have got to the semifinals.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

For your next challenge,

I need to see how you work on a larger project,

but back on your own,

so I'm sending you to Bristol,

where I have three hair salons in need of a makeover.

Oh, wow. Nice!

Bristol, a vibrant city where individuality thrives,

is home to three hair salons, each with a strong identity,

but they're all in need of a fresh transformation

to help them stand out and be a cut above the rest.

And helping me judge this week is someone who really knows a lot

about the high street.

It's Mary Portas.

Ooh. Ooh. OK.

Good luck. See you in Bristol.

Thank you. Thank you.

Are you OK? Are you OK?

I didn't think we'd have Mary Portas.

She is a tough cookie. Hmm. Hmm.

Mary Portas, wowsers.

Oh, Michelle, it's the semifinals, and you haven't held back.

They're working by themselves.

They're redesigning a big salon

and they've only got two days to do it.

They can totally do this.

And that's what I need to see, because this is a semifinal.

And what kind of aesthetic are you looking for?

Well, each salon has got its own

very strong kind of identity and USP,

so I think our designers have just got to kind of understand that

and try and interpret it in a way,

but layer it with their own kind of signature look as well.

I don't want to see kind of them just replicating exactly

what they think the client would like.

They've got to give me more than that at this stage.

And there's a lot at stake. You could get a place in the final.

Yeah. Get it wrong at the salon, it's HAIR today, gone tomorrow.

Oh, God.

What?

Actually, that was quite a good one. Thank you.

Tom's meeting his clients first.

Hello. My name's Tom. Hello, Tom. Nice to meet you.

Owner Doug and manager Neil of Hobbs,

an edgy industrial salon split across two floors.

The salon opened in 1996.

When we first came here it was an empty shell.

Doug actually sort of designed the salon himself and...

No pressure! Oh, my gosh.

It's industrial.

We've got a lot of exposed bricks here.

Texture. Texture. Just like hair.

Yeah, texture. Different textures. I love that.

Downstairs at the moment we've got, like, a kind of cafe bar area

and then there's a garden outside.

It is quite unusual. Yeah.

The clients sometimes come because they like gardening.

Because they've seen it on the website, they come.

The bones of what you've got now

is so beautiful, so stunning.

So what are you looking for?

The reception desk at the moment, it's nice,

but there could be more done to it to make it pop.

One thing that would be great is to kind of have a bit more lighting,

because the lighting at the top is creating shadows. OK.

We're quite keen to keep a lot of the exposed brick.

My one concern is how much I can transform it

so that when Michelle walks in, she goes,

"He has done stuff here," because it has such a big personality.

Yeah, that's tricky.

Next door...

The salon hasn't really been touched since we first opened.

..Jack's getting the background from his clients, Corey and Noel,

owners of Noco, a high-end salon which opened four years ago.

It's kind of at the moment quite neutral. It's very white and grey.

We'd quite like having something that feels

a bit more memorable maybe... Yeah. ..is a good word.

A bit of, like, a Scandi feel.

We've obviously got different areas of the salon.

The area where they get their hair washed,

we'd really like to make that feel a bit more special.

A couple of clients have said it's maybe not as welcoming

on the way in as it could be. OK.

So that initial oomph would be great.

With the VIP section on your right,

how would you like your clients to feel?

We're not cheap by any means. Yeah.

And it'd be nice to have a space that's reflective of that.

We always say that they come in in a taxi,

but they leave in a limo. Awesome.

There's some anxiety attached around doing this client space.

A salon is...it's their baby and brand.

So although I'm excited, I am also very equally nervous.

Last but not least is Monika...

For me, McQueens is about walking into nice things

to look at while you're having your hair done.

..whose client Emma is founder of McQueens,

a classic salon with a unique charm.

It's quite glamorous.

It's very black and white.

It's got a bit of a wow factor at the moment,

but obviously it's very old now and it really needs... OK.

It needs your expert help.

OK. I look at you, I look at the space around you,

and I can see this rock and roll glamorous.

Am I getting it right? Is it there?

Yeah, there is.

I just have an eye for different things.

I love the vibe already.

I personally love black, I love dark spaces

and the dramatic effect that they have.

OK, yeah, that sounds good.

Just by meeting you, I think we understand each other.

There is the blonde hair and the tattoos.

It's the hair and the tattoos. Yeah. Absolutely.

This kind of edgy feel.

I'm hoping that you're ready for adding some edginess

to your salon. Yeah, sure, why not?

I can't wait to start working on your salon. Thank you.

Thank you. Bye.

I feel like our styles might actually be similar,

so this should be easy.

She says.

This should be easy? I can't believe I just said that.

I'm sorry!

With their plans in place...

Eurgh, this fabric is the first thing that's going to go.

..and each with a budget of £3,000...

You're very, very big. Crikey.

..the designers have just two days...

Ahh! Oh, my God. OK, I feel sick.

..to give these salons a complete transformation.

OK, freak out. Freak out.

Freak out.

I think she's in one piece.

I hope she's in one piece.

She is fine.

Yeah, I've got lots of painting, batoning, texture,

murals, planting.

I don't know where I'm getting all this time from,

but I'm going to have to find it from somewhere.

Fortunately, as ever...

I think we're over there.

..a team of trusty trades are on hand to help.

Good morning. Morning. Welcome to Hobbs.

We're going to embrace the industrial

and make it a bit more sexy.

Piers, I know that's speaking to you.

We've got a big one this week.

Painting wise, there's going to be lots of zoning with paints.

As you can see above us,

I have so much fabric.

I hate it and I would really like it to go.

The whole ceiling I would like painted black.

With a brief to transform the classic salon

into a bold alternative space...

..this week, Monika's embracing her maximalist,

gothic signature style.

Throughout the competition,

I feel like I had to tone back my style a little bit.

But this challenge, I'm actually expected to do my style.

I am so excited.

Inspired by maximalism,

Monika's statement ceiling will be painted black,

plastic plants and upcycled lampshades will hang

from golden grids,

religious objects and vintage mirrors will decorate the walls,

the hair-washing zone will be painted gold

and face a maroon picture frame feature.

I think my biggest concern is the ceiling.

I don't know if I can do it in two days.

I hope I can.

This reception desk feels like it's in a taxi rank

and I feel it shouldn't look like that.

It should look a bit more welcoming. Mm-hm.

This week, Tom's brief is to modernise the industrial salon...

I would love to explore tilting it.

..giving a fresh edge to the rugged and characterful interior.

Pivot! Pivot! Pivot!

This is 100% the biggest challenge I've had to date.

This space has such a personality.

Pivot! Pivot!

You keep going that way.

It's two massive spaces that aren't speaking to each other

and need to speak to each other.

I have to show the judges another layer to it.

And then this could become a curvy thing. Mm-hm.

And then that could all curve.

What I want to try and do is break up all those

industrial, hard elements with some soft fabrics

and some curved edges.

We can do a little curved section here. Mm-hm.

Reshaping the reception desk to help soften the space,

upstairs, Tom's also inserting new lighting around the work stations

and upholstering a brick wall in teal fabric.

An abstract, earthy mural on the stairwell will lead

down to the waiting area, which will have vintage seating,

offering a comfy view out onto the unique garden.

There's two tiny little spaces in the finals

and I really want one of them to be mine.

So, yeah, I'm going to have to work so hard this week.

I've just got to do it.

Over in Jack's high-end salon...

Oh! I hate it already. No, OK, let's start again.

Let's be serious.

..he's saying goodbye to the white walls

and hello to a statement mural in the washroom.

The brief asked me to do Scandi

and I can't really just do Scandi,

because I find it a bit underwhelming.

It doesn't get me,

so I thought I'd throw in a bit of Japan,

which has now become Japandi.

There's just a bit more drama, a bit more colour,

and just a bit more interest.

I've got myself some acrylic white paint

and all I've done is water it down

so that I can drag it a bit easier on the wall.

I want the people who use this room to feel quite Zen and chilled out

and at peace.

Despite the clients never having requested Japandi,

not only will hand-painted bamboo

and floral murals dominate the washroom,

but Jack's also making a rocky landscape for the colouring bar,

wrapping the work stations and reception in wooden batons

and transforming the walls in an eclectic colour palette.

If that wasn't enough, a large gold branch will adorn the VIP area

and foliage will appear throughout.

It's a big one this week. I'm one away from the final.

I'm really just overwhelmed,

because I've got all these great ideas

and I'd hate to scale back on any of them,

so I just need to be like, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.

And I'm hoping that I go big and it pays off and I don't go home.

I am going to get into the zone.

and the only way I'm going to get into the zone

is by plugging my earphones in

and listening to some soothing music.

A little bit of Aretha Franklin.

Yeah! # The moment I wake up

# Before I put on my make-up

# I say a little prayer for you... #

# And while combing my hair now... #

Where do we end this?

Down the road...

# And wondering what dress to wear... #

Oh! I don't like it.

# I say a little prayer for you... #

It's very stressful.

..Monika's needing a prayer for her feature ceiling.

How much paint have you got for that?

So I have three tubs, two and a half litre.

You're going to need at least double that. OK.

Oh, I did the maths.

It's a big ceiling and that soaks in. No, I know,

but I have the measurements for it.

Like, I was given measurements. Yeah.

And that's measurements for a normal flat wall.

Flat surface. This is quite porous. It'll just soak in. Yeah.

Oh! Do I need to straight away order it? Yeah. Yeah.

100%? Yeah.

Hmm, that is not a good start.

I don't like when I'm not fully ready for everything.

It's not the best to start a day on a negative thing.

The ceiling that we have in the salon is made of paper pulp

and it soaks so much more paint than a normal wall would do.

I'm not going to lie, that is actually very stressful.

# Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle

# I want to ride my bicycle... #

Excuse me! Excuse me!

Excuse me, please.

Thank you. Excuse me. I'm in a rush.

Thank you.

I'm looking for three interior designers in the Bristol area.

Thank you. Thank you. Please.

# I want to ride my Bicycle races are coming... #

I'm coming. I'm coming.

# So forget all your duties, oh, yeah... # I'm coming!

Jack.

Alan! You all right?

What are you doing? A mural?

A big, big mural.

Was it meant to just be on one wall?

It was meant to just be there and then on the ceiling,

and then it grew down here and there.

It's like poison ivy. It's just clinging to the building.

It literally is spreading like wildfire.

And why are you doing bamboo? Because, I mean, fair enough,

if a panda comes in wanting a short back and sides,

but this is for human clientele. Yeah.

Why bamboo?

Because this theme is Japandi.

Is that an actual word or did you make it up? No, it's real.

It's a mix of Scandi and Japan...and it's Japandi.

But they only wanted the Scandi.

They didn't want the Japan bit.

And Japandi is now here.

OK.

Well, listen, if you want a handy doing your Japandi

and your Scandi, then just give me a ring on the landy-line.

Oh, very good. Good luck, love.

Thank you! Thank you. Bye. Bye-bye.

ALAN CHUCKLES

Jack is going for Japandi, but it's not what the owners wanted.

This is a high-end salon.

Across the way...

Tom? Oh, hey. I've used all the offcuts from the table top

already and I'm not even round to here.

..Tom hasn't got enough wood for the reception area.

I need your creative juices to flow.

Yeah? Yes, yes. I'm just going to go to the skip.

I passed this skip and I saw there was some wood in it

and I think it might be Monika's from her salon,

but it's in a skip, so it's fair game.

HE HUMS JAMES BOND THEME

With one mission accomplished...

Here it is. I got wood.

..Tom moves on to his next challenge

which is to try and create cohesion across the two floors.

I'm sewing all these panels of fabric together,

because I'm going to upholster one of the walls upstairs

in the main salon

and then I'm doing the same fabric in a drape

along another wall downstairs.

I wanted to add a sort of softness to the space,

because it's very hard with all those industrial elements.

I've never upholstered a wall before.

I'm channelling my nervous energy into doing rather than thinking.

Maybe that's a good thing to do at the moment.

Good boy. You can bring your stick with you, buddy.

Come on. Good boy.

What's the dream, Tom?

As scary as it sounds, is to be a fully-fledged designer.

I know I'm a good designer. I just need to have faith in that.

I think that's the leap that I need to take.

Tom's special because he's incredibly talented.

He can turn his hand to pretty much anything.

At the moment, I work as a waiter,

but before that I trained as an actor.

I worked as that for 20 years.

Lots of touring. Had a lot of fun.

Just got to play like a child till I was in my 40s,

but all the time, I wanted to be an interior designer.

I've only had one professional interior design job

and that was working for an interior design company.

I would help them source interior decor items for show homes

that are multi-million pound, and I loved that.

When I design, I feel alive.

Tom should be an interior designer.

I think that this competition will give him the boost

that he needs that he can do this.

I'm feeling the pressure of time.

I'm a 47-year-old.

If I don't do it now, it's never going to happen.

This is the time to...

..make the leap.

Do I have enough paint?

No comment.

Yeah, of course. You're stressing me out.

Yes, OK, I have enough paint.

It's halfway through day one.

I love the black.

I am very happy we're going with black.

And for Monika, there's no turning back.

My personal style's not everyone's cup of tea.

It is quite niche and it's dark.

But I'm going with my gut and I'm very excited.

I think when I was a teenager,

I had this, like, emo/goth phase and everything was black

and I never really grew out of it.

And that's why I sometimes call my style, like, goth granny.

Hey, hey.

I grew up in Gdansk, which is in the north of Poland,

in a Catholic family.

Churches in Poland are incredibly beautiful.

They are so ornate.

That definitely influenced a lot of the style that I have.

I'm a furniture artist.

I love to create pieces of art and furniture

using different mediums like decoupage or gilding.

Never in my life I expected to get to the semifinal.

My whole family back in Poland, they are so incredibly proud of me.

Bye-bye!

I'm very grateful.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity

and I already have learned so much,

and I want to do the best design I can possibly do

in order to get myself to the final.

Getting the job done is what the aim of the game is.

Oh, I've got loads of fabric.

Tom!

Tom. Come in.

Did you hear us banging on the window?

I heard you. Come in. Come in.

Oh, fabric.

That's your forte. That's your superpower.

And you've got to show off because it's the semifinal. Got to show off.

Look, it looks really theatrical. You said last week, you were like...

HIGH-PITCHED: "You're very theatrical."

I didn't say it quite that high pitched.

HIGH-PITCHED: Very theatrical!

I went... LOW-PITCHED: You're theatrical.

So you're covering up all this lovely exposed brick. Yeah.

But I think having it surrounding you was a bit of a visual overload.

Yeah. So I've tried to calm it down by giving the eye something restful.

How are you feeling?

I'm feeling really nervous about this one.

Up until now I felt, you know, very safe, very confident.

This week, it's a really tricky brief.

I'm really, really anxious. Yeah, yeah. Don't know what I'm doing.

I'm having a complete freak-out, and I think it's the perfect time

before I go home.

Oh, come on. Don't be down.

Don't be down. Don't be a downer.

You've just got to enhance it.

You've just got to bring Tom into it, haven't you? Yeah.

See you later, Tom. I'll be up my ladder. Good luck, love.

Thank you.

Tom has been a strong designer throughout the competition,

but this week he's lost his mojo.

This is the semifinals.

This is not the time to have a wobble.

When in doubt, wrap it in fabric.

Why do they do this?

Over in Japandi land...

I'm so dramatic.

..Jack's working on another statement piece

for the front of his hair colouring bar.

I'm creating, like, a rocky landscape.

So instead of, like, getting a big slab of rock sliced into bits,

which would just cost me my soul, I'm going to paint effect it.

What are you doing? I'm mixing sand with paint

to try and get a textured effect.

I've never done this before,

so it will either look really good or just, you know,

just not what I had in my head.

That's all right, isn't it?

I don't think I'll know unless I've done the whole board.

And that's not that useful when you're against time,

but still, I'm just going to... I'm just going to see.

Monika, it's so... It's so massive in here.

ECHOING: Monika-ka-ka-ka-ka!

Monika-ka-ka-ka-ka!

What the hell is going on here and is that sacrilegious?

What are you doing?

Oh, first of all, you don't say what the hell in front of Mary.

Oh, no. Oh, dear. I'm now going to burst into flames.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Explain.

I know it looks scary.

I know I'm currently painting a statue of Mary in black.

She's not going to be black. She's going to be grey.

Oh, well, that makes it so much better, Monika.

Yes, there's a difference.

THEY CHUCKLE

For me, this statue is just a beautiful piece of art.

Because obviously your Polish roots,

very religious country... Yes. ..Catholicism and everything,

so it sort of fits in it, doesn't it, really?

Absolutely, yeah. I'm going to be devil's advocate. Yeah.

Is it going to be too dark for a hairdresser's?

It is very dark right now.

But I just want to show everything that I have. Yeah.

And the only way I can do it is by doing something

that I really believe in. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Do you think you could win? Come on! Dream big.

Yes.

I actually think I have a chance. You big head!

You're such a big head, Monika. Oh! You're so arrogant.

You made me say it.

No, you've got to dream big, haven't you? I... You could.

I think I have a chance. Great. Yeah. That's what I want to hear.

Yeah. I love it. Keep it up. Keep the confidence up.

Thank you, Alan.

I wish I knew the proper way

so I could come in and just be like, bam!

But I don't know.

With the end of day one approaching,

Jack's still having a rocky time with his landscape.

I hate it. I'm not going to use it.

No, I don't like it.

You've got to let it dry, haven't you?

Yeah. I mean, right now it just looks grey.

But it's not going to dry that colour, is it?

No, this is true. I'll come back to it later.

But for now, it's defeated me.

Don't be defeated, Jack.

I am concerned about my rock face.

I just thought that was going to be a breeze

and it's not been like that.

And I'd still like to try and achieve it.

I don't want it to get the better of me.

I'm going to sleep on that one.

As the day draws to a close... Hi, Monika.

..Tom checks out his competition.

This looks amazing. Welcome to my black...

It's amazing. This is you.

I love all of these. Lots of plants. Lots of gold.

Yeah, all of these grids suspended, covered in foliage. Real plants?

WHISPERS: No.

Because you can't water them.

No. But no ivy.

Oh! I have learned. I have learned.

I made the same mistake twice.

I am not going to make the same mistake for the third time.

And how are you doing? You have two levels?

Yeah. Are you trying to merge them together?

I'm trying to smush them together, yeah. Good.

But downstairs is, like, just a waiting room,

so it's really weird. Oh, gosh.

But they have this beautiful garden. Are you bringing the garden in?

Erm... I'm facing the garden.

I could see that Tom, he is stressed about his space,

which technically should be a good thing for me,

but I actually do feel for him.

So, yeah.

Happy sad.

Yeah, OK. I'm going to go.

OK. This looks great. Bye. I'll see you later, Tom. Take care. Bye.

It is very Monika.

It's really dark.

And I think that's the beauty of what she does.

She's unashamedly doing herself.

I'm aware that it is dark.

I'm not necessarily overly worried,

because day two is the day where the design comes to life.

It's going to be hectic, but it's going to be great.

It's day two.

Oh, the mural.

It's had its day.

It's going to go away.

I think what the artist was trying to do was, like, you know,

bring the garden up into the inside,

but I think the pink is just really

just not the right pink in this space.

So, day two. Yeah. Yeah.

For my beautiful decorators, I would love to get the mural...

Yeah. ..on this stair wall. Yeah, OK.

No worries, Tom.

MONIKA SQUEALS

Today, Monika plans to lighten her salon...

"Apply double-sided tape to the centre of the ring."

..by upcycling and hanging 16 individual lampshades.

I have five extra large ones that I need to build and cover,

and then 11 charity shop finds that I'm recovering

in the new fabric.

But it isn't just the space that needs brightening up.

Yesterday I felt good and today I woke up with this awful feeling,

like, awful feeling that I have way too much to do in one day

and the feeling doesn't want to go away,

and it's making me upset and I can't think.

This is not a difficult process.

It's just such a time-consuming process.

One down, 15 to go.

It does look like a bit like concrete, you know?

I'm happy with that.

Over in Jack's salon, things are off to a smoother start

with the sand mix on his rocky landscape

having dried overnight.

I'm embracing the mountain and it's not broke my back.

It's not Brokeback Mountain.

And he's spreading his Japandi theme into the reception.

Right, so, the cabinet, because it's quite dominatrix at the minute,

like, it's just very there,

I really want that to be lost a bit.

I'd love you to put this mural on top of it.

Oh, OK.

Like a rising sun. Like a ri... Exactly right.

Yep, yep, yep.

I would say I am an artist.

Growing up, I was always painting, always drawing.

When I use my hands, that's what excites me

and that's what I love doing.

Massage the salad. Put some salt.

What makes Jack special is how creative he is.

He doesn't follow the norm.

He doesn't do what everyone else would do,

but it always works.

What I am proud about is I can get the look for less.

I had a company come out and they quoted me £16,000

for an ornate ceiling and I couldn't justify that kind of spend,

so I did it myself.

A little bit of MDF, some clay, and voila.

I think it all came together at about £1,500.

And that's what really makes him just a cut

above the rest, basically.

It's great. It's good for me as well.

And do you think your design this time

is going to get you to the final?

I don't want to play it safe, no. I think it will go down fine.

I'd love to win this competition.

I think what I'd like to get from this is to be that household name.

If someone saw something in a room and was like,

"That is a Jack Kinsey," that would be awesome.

I think you're amazing. Thanks, babes. I love you.

Thank you.

For the VIP area to have that extra special touch,

Jack's branching out with a Japandi-inspired spectacle.

This tree is going to go on the ceiling

and it's going to be covered in leaves.

It's going to be gold. It's going to add a little bit more pizzazz to the VIP area.

I want to do a showstopper, so I've just got to get it right.

Inspired by the salon's industrial colour palette...

I think we just need to do big brushstrokes, bluh, bluh, bluh,

in this colour.

..downstairs in Tom's salon...

OK. Yeah. Purple, ba, ba, ba...

At that speed as well?

..an abstract mural is emerging.

If you put a red tone under a gold tone,

it makes it look more...

Vibrant.

Aged. ..aged, more realistic,

because it's like a rust underneath a gold. Right.

It makes it look like more of, like, a real metal.

Much like his new-found confidence.

So I think today I feel like the nerves are kind of quietening.

I feel like the elements that I've introduced are working

with the space.

They don't fight against it.

I feel like they're elevating what's already there.

Mate, that is a work of art.

When I was growing up, I was always a crafty person.

I would spend my pocket money on room decorations,

like, not on sweets or ice cream and stuff.

But I would paint it.

I would always repaint it.

I always hated just buying plain stuff from the shop.

I had to make it my own.

Monika!

Hey, Alan.

Oh, someone's gone wild in the aisles at Shades R Us.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look at this.

Guess who this is. Just like that.

Aladdin?

THEY LAUGH

Tough crowd.

It's one of our best, most loved comedians, Tommy Cooper.

Yes! Did you ever get him in Poland?

No. No. Oh, OK. Well, that was just like him.

Anyway, moving on.

What are you going to do with these, then?

Because it's like a hairdresser's.

It's like a subliminal message.

Fringe and fringe.

Well, they're really cute, and they actually need

a little bit of trimming still,

because you can see they're quite uneven

and I was in the middle of trimming. Oh, come here. Listen.

You can give me a fringe. Ah!

I haven't had a fringe for years. This is so nice.

OK, please don't move. Are you sure? Don't move.

Oh. Oh, you're moving too much.

I'm shaking with fear, Monika.

Let me just check the back.

Lovely. Thank you.

You've taken years off me.

You look great, Alan. You look great.

Now, are you going to have everything done?

Oh, tricky question. Time's getting on.

I know. You know me.

I always start my idea with having tonnes of everything

and then run out of time and scale it down. Yeah.

Yeah. So time is not my friend.

Oh, don't worry, love. You'll get there. You'll get there.

Well, listen, I'll let you get on with your shades. Thank you.

Let's see if it's funny with a bigger fez.

IMPERSONATING TOMMY COOPER: Just like that.

No? OK. Still not funny.

Right, well, I'll just leave it there.

It's halfway through day two.

Ooh, what's this? It's Japandi.

You're exploiting my stupidity

and just saying Japandi to anything that I don't understand.

Dun-dun-dun!

You're creating a mural.

I've just freestyled it.

This doesn't mean any... Is this, like, life or something?

It has no meaning. Do you know what that reminds me of?

A ginger nut and then a bit of bourbon.

Is that what you were hoping for?

They are up. Brilliant. Thank you.

Across the salons...

It'll be about there, actually, yeah.

..attentions switch to the important task of lighting.

Ta-da!

I think that works.

I was just worried that the bulbs were maybe a bit too bright

and a bit too, like, ah!

Light!

They look great. I think having sidelights helps the situation,

because the light before was coming from above

and creating really bad shadows on people,

so everybody looked really not well and unhealthy.

No, if I'm a short person, you have to go a little lower,

because I'm very tall.

Michelle always says to sit and test out a space

and imagine how you're going to look in it.

I don't know what it's going to look like.

I hope it's going to look all right.

Jack's adding the finishing touches to his handmade branch,

which he hopes will highlight the VIP area.

The owners said that their clients come in a taxi

and then they leave in a limo.

It's that kind of experience.

But I'd like them to leave in a private jet afterwards.

I want them to feel class.

I don't like it. I think we'll take it down.

It's not really what I thought it was going to look like.

I thought it was going to look a bit more sculptural,

but it looks a little bit cheap.

So we're going to scrap it? Let's scrap it. Let's get rid of it.

Coming down. It's not the one.

I think I'm feeling the pressure,

because I've got here because I've done good

and I just don't want to screw it up.

It's on the scrap pile.

Oh, my God. I'm so high.

Can someone wheel me to my right? Yeah.

With the end in reach...

I'm too short!

..Tom adds a splash of ingenuity.

I'm just going to age the brass a little,

just to knock back some of the newness

with some vinegar.

Cor, what have you got in this?

That's just a pot.

Jack brings the outside in...

This is a Japanese acer tree.

I know Michelle hates fake plants, so I've gone for real.

I don't swear, but I really want to swear.

That's how I feel about today.

..while Monika has a reality check.

I think at this point what I'm doing is I'm doing a little bit

of everything that I wanted to do.

So I have some lampshades,

I will have some foliage, I will have some mirrors.

I have no clue if this is enough to impress Mary Portas

and Michelle.

With less than an hour to go...

I just want people to see in and be like, "Ooh, that looks nice."

..it's a race to the finish line.

Final push. This is not the time to be painting stuff.

Love this. It looks great.

Yeah, it faces the garden.

Thank you, and thank you, and thank you.

Go and get a drink.

First one is on me. Yay!

Right, done, done, done, done, done.

It's done.

It's out of my hands.

I am dead. I need a drink.

In my head, I had way more lampshades.

But for me, that place is unrecognisable

from what it was before.

I'm just so proud of it.

I've done enough of what I could possibly give to this

without actually dying, I think.

This means everything to me.

This is the career I want.

I don't want to, like, jinx it, but I think I deserve...

..to be in the final.

It's time for judging,

and this week, Michelle will be joined by somebody

who knows a lot about having iconic hair.

So would you ever go back to being a redhead? No.

It's too easy.

I've moved on. Oh, OK.

Simple. I'm a blonde now and a grey.

It's Mary Portas, queen of the high street.

So, Mary, here we are in Bristol,

where our three remaining designers are battling it out

for a place in the final. I know.

And I really hope that they pour all of their personalities,

as well as the personalities of the salon owners,

into these designs.

Most hairdressers that I know have characters. Yes.

So they will want that reflected in the space.

I mean, Bristol is a bright, vibrant, independent city.

This is not the time to go wishy-washy.

This is one of the biggest growth areas in business,

is hair and beauty, and there's a reason for that.

People want to feel good.

So I really hope that they've also thought about the customer journey

and flow.

I can't wait to see if they can deliver on all of those things.

It's a big ask, isn't it? It is. Come on.

I am super excited about this space and the transformation,

because I really believe in my design.

I do care about what the judges will say,

because I kind of really want to go to the final.

Fingers crossed they love it.

Wow.

So this is Monika's salon and she is of Polish heritage.

Her kind of religious iconography is clearly important to her.

My aunts in Ireland would have heart failure looking at that,

but nevertheless, I really love the way that she's taking

a religious icon and doing something a little bit avant-garde with it.

I like it, I like it. I like it.

Monika loves a kind of more kind of gothic, darker vibe,

so I can see that playing out,

but then she has modulated it for the owner.

It's working.

One of the main issues with this salon

was it had that huge kind of drapey ceiling.

So I can see that Monika's just, like, painted that all out in black.

I mean, I really like the suspended panels,

but I certainly do not like plastic leaves hanging down.

I can't bare plastic plants.

And I've told her about this.

The reason why plastic plants don't work,

this is very much organic, your hair.

This is natural.

The time has passed for plastic plants. Yeah.

She could have done with a few more of the wonderful hanging

lampshades, which I do like.

I love that she hasn't felt compelled

to have identical mirrors, though.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, she's not felt

it's all got to be samey-samey.

But as I look in that mirror, I see straight away the lighting

is just flat overhead and I look like a ghost

with, you know, all those shadows under my eyes.

So looking at the walls,

I think she could have done a few more lights in here,

just giving you that extra level. Exactly.

Ooh, now, I immediately feel very comfortable in this area.

We've introduced more colour and more texture

and sort of the kind of shine from the gold as well,

which is reflected in the inside of the lampshades.

This gold works beautifully.

That feels really kind of sexy. Yeah.

I think salons should be sexy.

You want to come out feeling sexy, you know? Absolutely.

But overall, I think this is an amazing transformation.

It feels like a salon that I can imagine people being very happy

to come into and ask for something maybe a little bit different.

Well, then, shall we go and check out the next one? Yeah.

Looking forward to it.

This brief, they wanted industrial with a modern twist,

so I thought it didn't need a massive transformation.

Michelle may think differently, but I feel I've done enough.

Ahh.

Wowser.

So this is Tom's salon, and he was gifted a very strong space.

I mean, all of this exposed brick, the scaffolding poles.

Yeah, no, I can see that. I mean, he's changed the front desk.

I love the use of the brass.

I'm reading the big curves of it, which I really like,

that he's modified what was a kind of boxy entrance

into something that I flow round. Yes.

But when you're coming to pay,

I want to feel that there's something a little bit softer

and sexier and indulgent.

That feels really scratchy and cheap to me.

I'm imagining he was kind of echoing a very rough, rustic thing here.

That's the thing.

It feels very masculine and rough,

which is totally fine if it also connects with that softness.

If we focus in on what he has introduced to soften things,

he's kind of added the curtain... Love. ..which OK, yeah, love that.

I like that colour as well. The colour is really great.

He's also added this mural and the mural,

I'm struggling with a little bit. Same here.

It feels slightly dystopian.

That could have been beautiful gold

and that would have made me feel a little bit more sensuous.

And let's see what else is round here.

I like the way he's brought lighting onto this level,

so you get that warm glow and not just the overhead lighting

blanching your face out.

Yeah, he's done that beautifully.

Well, now I just need to know where our dystopian mural

is leading us.

Maybe it's where they serve the lagers.

So it's taking us down to...

Would this be like a kind of waiting area or kind of more soft area?

I feel Tom's had a chance to express himself a little bit more here,

so he's introduced all of this furniture.

We've got his now sort of signature draping,

like, mirroring from upstairs.

What he has succeeded in doing is linking the two spaces.

But I look at that gold and I think, "Oh, that's so lovely."

Couldn't we have brought some of that in here

and softened it up with plants?

And I think he's missed a trick on that.

A great big squidgy sofa, though, on the plus.

Michelle! Michelle, could you come and get your highlights done, love?

Well, shall we move on to the next one?

Let's go to the next.

It didn't really have, like, a lot of personality to it before.

Now I feel like it has some boldness.

It would mean the world to me if I got great feedback,

because more of me has gone into this than what the brief asked for,

so I hope Michelle appreciates it too.

Ooh.

Ooh, this feels chic, doesn't it?

Oh, it certainly does.

And that is just wonderful.

Big statement as you come in. Yeah, and real plants. Of nature.

Yeah, real plants. Real plants.

Real moss all the way through.

Wow. And unusual colours.

That's a kind of buttermilky, khaki thing. Yeah.

Beautiful rich ginger, which...

And the way he subtly moved that into the wonderful Japanese mural.

It looks expensive.

Because navy is one of those colours that instantly

makes things look kind of, you know, upmarket and chic.

That's us. So...

MICHELLE LAUGHS

Ooh, I like this.

We've got a little kind of, like, sandscape going on there.

I don't like that. What is it, Mount Fuji?

And I just think it's a bit too much.

I think this is design for a bit of design's sake myself.

What is that area for?

That's supposed to be the VIP area,

in which case that is not working at all, is it?

Because we're missing that kind of luxe element.

Yeah, yeah.

And look. Aw. I think it's quite brave to have just started

painting and paint the whole thing.

It just feels wonderful.

Also, this is the one room where I really am going to be

staring at the ceiling. Exactly.

So he's given me something to look at. You're right.

He really has.

I mean, we are nearly at the end of all our challenges.

I mean, these designs were about them earning their place

in the final.

So I have questions for all of them. Yes.

But I am very impressed by what I'm seeing. Yes.

Whilst Michelle weighs up her decision...

Oh! ..a chance for the owners... Oh, wow.

..to check out their new hair salons.

The ceiling has been really changed, but I love it.

Love the Virgin Mary thing.

That's really cool.

It's going to be so great working in this space.

I love it.

Oh, my God. Wow.

Goodness me.

I was not expecting that!

I'm getting quite emotional.

It's just beautiful.

Look at this! Wow.

That's interesting, isn't it?

Just leave us here. We're fine. Yeah.

Oh, my God.

That's amazing.

Definitely an improvement.

It's given us that extra light,

because we used to get a bit too many shadows.

Whoa! Gosh.

Now that looks so comfortable.

Fantastic.

It's results day.

And the semifinalists are back in the design hub.

Hey. Hello. Hiya.

I think it might be difficult for the judges this week.

I think it's anyone's game.

Hi, guys. Hi, Alan. Hi. Hi.

So, how did you get on with the salons?

Jack, you embraced Japandi.

Did it go according to plan-di or was it just plan D?

It definitely wasn't plan D.

I loved it.

Phew. That's handy.

JACK LAUGHS

As you know, Michelle has a very difficult decision to make

this week, so she'd like to see all three of you on the sofa

where two of you will be going through to the final.

But one of you will be going home, OK? Good luck.

Thank you. Thanks, Alan.

I am scared. Yeah.

Good luck, everyone.

Well, they're all on the sofa, but didn't they all do well?

Really well.

Now, Mary, would you go and get your highlights done

in Monika's salon?

What makes you think I get highlights done?

No, possibly. Awkward.

You know, I think...

THEY LAUGH

It's all natural now, Alan.

That's the whole point of this hair.

It's totally natural.

This was a salon for a certain type of customer

and I thought the salon felt very, very professional.

Was there enough lighting for you?

Lighting, we discussed a lot. Yeah.

Because you do go into a salon with your bad hair

and your bare skin and we're sat there in front of a mirror,

you at least want to have flattering lighting,

so I don't think she'd really consider that.

You know someone who did get the lighting right,

I thought, was Tom. Excellent.

He got it really right on the lighting

and he also added it in in a way that was very sympathetic

to the overall look. Yeah.

Did you like the fabric?

I really liked the fabric, but I think we should have done

more of that and more glossy, more rich feeling to it.

It still felt very kind of blokey.

I expected to order a pint of beer in there, you know,

rather than, this is a beautiful salon.

Now, let's talk about Jack.

I was just so surprised in terms of the beautiful painting,

his artwork that he did. Yeah.

That's what I loved.

I think he absolutely nailed that,

but that VIP area, it wasn't a VIP area.

He just carried exactly the same kind of finishes and techniques

instead of that should have gone up another notch, yeah.

The competition is so tight.

How are you going to decide, though?

At this stage, it's a lot about us understanding

why they did what they did

and also why they didn't do certain things.

Oh, it's going to be emotional, isn't it? Always.

Yeah.

Hello. Hi. Hi. Hi, hi.

Hey, there.

Well, here we are.

I couldn't be more proud.

So this is about a place in the final

and salons were hard.

You had a lot to accommodate.

Tom, let's start with you.

Do you feel you were successful in that?

I feel like the choices that I made elevated what was already there.

I felt what it had to have was softness from the get-go

and I thought the best way to do that was to upholster that wall.

I felt like it gave the eyes some rest.

Yes. That worked beautifully.

And especially the way that you soften the lighting -

the bete noire for me is lighting in the salon,

which is often just ghostly.

Thank you for curving that reception desk. Thank you.

No sharp corners. I loved it.

Very, very happy. Thank you.

But could you have given me a glossy top?

It was a little bit...a lot rougher. Right.

And yet that's my first impression of the salon as I come in. Yeah.

And my last one when I'm paying the bill.

I totally get what you're saying.

I think... And I completely think you're right.

And tell us a bit about the mural.

I knew I wanted to sort of carry on the rusty vibe

and we put on layers of paint, put on this gold,

then it just kept evolving.

I feel like your inspiration was really rooted around the brick

and the urban and the scaffolding. Hmm.

The way to really make it sing is to absolutely

have its polar opposite. OK.

I just would have definitely brought that garden in in some way. Yeah.

Because I think it was an absolute jewel

and it gave you that ability to take something urban

and mix it with something very soft

and very beautiful and something organic.

But I didn't think about how I needed to connect the garden

from outside to the upstairs.

It's always, yeah... Retrospect is a lovely thing.

So, Monika, your owner fancied herself as a bit of a rock chick.

How did you feel about that as a brief?

After meeting the owner, I felt we really clicked

and we found a lot of similarities.

And so all of my decisions, my colour palettes, my wallpaper,

my fabrics, I wanted them to be luxurious

and rock and roll in the same way.

And it was a brave decision to get rid of the drapes.

I knew I needed to paint the ceiling black to kind of make this awful

ceiling disappear and then cover it with the grid panels.

And I think that really worked. However... Yes.

Please tell me about the plastic plants.

I thought I made it quite clear. I know.

The reason why I went with fake is because this is so high up

that no-one would ever be able to water the plants.

You just... You didn't need them.

My biggest personal struggle is knowing when to stop.

Yeah. OK.

You know when you need to stop when you start worrying.

Yeah. Don't.

What was beautiful as well as the colour tones that you chose,

they really... So there's the gold that you picked up inside the lamp.

The gold that was at the back of the salon is a really sexy

sort of feeling.

However, lighting. Yes.

It's so important. Yes.

Didn't feel that you really addressed that

with each of the work stations,

so when I'm actually sat in that chair looking at myself,

I'm kind of top lit.

OK. Did you sit in the chair and look at yourself in that mirror?

I did when we were adjusting the heights of the mirror

to make sure that it's in the right place,

but I guess I was focusing on the mirror. Yes.

Yeah. Monika probably sat down and she looks amazing.

Course she did! So you'd be like, "Yeah, looks brilliant." Yeah.

It's just us looking in it going, "Oh, that's a bit harsh." Yeah.

Some people don't blame the bulbs.

OK, Jack, your owner had a very kind of modern aesthetic

and I'm wondering how you dealt with that.

I was nervous to go into this one having no gravitational pull

towards Scandi, so I based some of my colour palette around Japandi.

I thought that your use of colour was exquisite.

Thank you.

And is that what inspired the wash station

with the beautiful bamboo painting? Yeah.

When I laid in the station and I looked up,

it was just like a really cold white ceiling,

so I wanted to make it a bit more cosy.

And tell me about the VIP area.

They wanted it to feel a little bit more exclusive.

So did you feel you achieved that when you...? No, no.

OK, well, fair enough. No. Because I didn't either.

No offence, but I didn't. No, it's cool. No, I didn't.

Originally I wanted this big gold branch,

like another canopy, basically, to be suspended over

so it felt like it was a completely different space.

It just looked naff.

So I just said, "Do away with it, take it down."

Well, it's good that you're so honest about it

and you understand and recognise that that was the kind of

the issue of that salon.

And can I just say as well, massive spaces

and such a tough challenge, so well done, all of you.

Salons, they're pretty hard, aren't they? Mm-hm.

They are about so much more than just hair.

They're about going somewhere that makes you feel good.

You all got that to a certain degree.

But there are only two places.

So, the first person going through to the final

of Interior Design Masters...

..is Jack.

Thank you. Thank you.

Well done. Thank you.

And so, the second person...

..is Monika.

Thank you. Thank you.

Well done. Well done.

Tom, you did brilliantly. You really did.

And I have loved watching you through this,

because I have seen your confidence, like, ebb and flow,

but you are sitting there now feeling happy

and proud of what you did and you absolutely should be.

Thank you. You really should.

Thank you very much.

I am really proud of the journey that I've been on

during this process.

I'm really proud of the spaces I produced.

I'm really proud of these guys.

Take care.

I really feel like I have put my absolute passion for design...

..on the line every week... Sorry, I don't want to cry.

..on the line every week and I feel I can only be proud of that.

And that shows who I am

and what I have to offer, that passion.

This.

So, this is it.

I don't really have much advice for you. Just go for it.

Enjoy it, love it.

You're in the final of Interior Design Masters.

It's surreal.

It is surreal. Thank you.

Thank you. Wow, I've got goose bumps.

Oh, gosh!

Tom has been an outstanding designer throughout this competition

and he's shown me some really beautiful spaces.

But this week, Jack and Monika just gave me that little bit more.

Next time...

It's going awful.

..the finalists take on pubs...

Cheers! Chucka-chucka-choo!

..in the seaside town of Brighton...

There's an immense amount of pressure for me to get this right.

Paint on my bum, no!

..as they go head-to-head...

Probably the closest one yet.

I'm really stressed that we're not going to finish it.

..in the final.

This year's Interior Design Master is...