Sarah Beeny: "Having cancer hasn't changed me"

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

What’s the view from your sofa?

We’ve got two sofas by the TV, so we all have a seat [Sarah and her husband, Graham Swift, have four sons]. I dyed the sofa covers plum to hide some stains, but I didn’t do it that well, so it’s patchy in places. But I like a home to look lived-in.

What have you been watching?

I’m an absolute sucker for a stand-up comic. I love Russell Howard, Dara Ó Briain, Sarah Millican and especially Michael McIntyre – he’s hilarious and never unkind. One of my favourite things he said was that leaving your dirty plates on top of the dishwasher is like taking your kids halfway to school and saying, “That’s it. I’m done. You can walk the rest of the way.”

From Channel 4’s Property Ladder in 2001 to your most recent show Help! I Bought It at Auction, do you feel you have helped influence the rise of property shows on TV?

I think Channel 4 was just following public interest. It’s probably rather cynical to say, but that show came at a time when budgets were being cut for television, and so instead of having proper researchers, they thought, “We’ll just get people who are already in the industry who know all the stuff anyway.” From day one, they’d say, “We’re going to do this,” and I’d say, “No, no, that’s not right.”

Have property shows changed?

We now have so many channels that everyone’s grabbing a headline. One of the things I think may be a mistake in television is that they’re all chasing the TikTok audience. Instead of thinking, “We’ll educate and TikTok can titillate,” they’re thinking they’ve got to titillate, too. Would David Attenborough get a show commissioned now or would they be thinking, “My God, no, that’s so boring?” And yet he is the man, isn’t he?

In 2022 you were diagnosed with breast cancer. Why did you decide to share your journey so publicly in the 2023 documentary Sarah Beeny vs Cancer?

Because when they say, “You’ve got cancer,” what you hear is, “What kind of coffin do you want?” It was about dying. Eventually I realised that treatments have come on so much, it’s more likely that you won’t die, and I wondered if other people had thought the same as me. Also, I wanted my sons to be able to talk to anyone they wanted to about it, so I didn’t want it to be a secret. And I was going to lose my hair, so I just thought I had to go public and that way I could tell the story the way I wanted. I’m proud of it, because I had thousands and thousands of letters from people saying it helped them and their families.

Has your experience of cancer changed your definition of success in any way?

No. I don’t think I would want to honour cancer with anything. Each to their own, but cancer doesn’t define me. It’s not changed my life. Having four kids has defined me – and having a husband, being on telly, meeting lots of people and having loads of successful businesses.

Did you ever worry about showing your family on screen?

I was very protective of the boys when they were little, but when we made New Life in the Country [2020-25], we asked them individually if they wanted to be in it. They were all old enough to make their own minds up. I strongly disagree with the implication that under 18, you haven’t got a brain and then on your 18th birthday you suddenly have all the wisdom in the world.

They say home is where the heart is. But where do you feel most at home?

It’s so trite to say this, but wherever my family is. I’m lucky, because I’ve got my kids, husband and a really big extended family who I’m incredibly close to. I’m currently on tour with the band that my husband and boys formed, called The Entitled Sons. I love being their groupie.

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