Why Angel and Dick Strawbridge will never film another Escape to the Chateau series

Angel and Dick Strawbridge have no plans to film another Escape to the Chateau series, with Angel telling Yahoo: "There will never be an Escape to the Chateau again."

Recently the Strawbridges returned to our screens with mini travel series Secret France which aired on Channel 4 on three Sundays, but it was a decision they had made back in 2022, at the same time Escape to the Chateau came to an end.

Their recent focus has been away from TV projects and they have a packed schedule including their UK tour which launches their latest project Jack of All Trades, where they are searching for the person who can turn their hand to anything in the audience of their tours.

The Strawbridges have no plans on slowing down on sharing their creativity with the world. They've been keeping up with their podcast and have a new book A Taste of the Chateau out in October too. However, Angel, 46, and Dick, 64, ruled out filming another Escape to the Chateau series or something similar for a special reason.

Dick and Angel's important family decision

Off camera, the parents are devoted to giving their young children Arthur, 11, and Dorothy, 10, a very "normal" upbringing in rural France at the chateau where they can attend the local school. Leaving behind the cameras was always a "family decision" for the couple.

Dick told Yahoo: "We did everything to have our life and we shared all the Escape to the Chateau years. Every year we stopped and we thought: Are we going to do this? We had a conversation about it. As the children got older, we talked about the children and what they wanted to do."

Their priority will always be their children. He added: "We have got some big projects at the moment. The number one thing is Arthur to start senior school. Dorothy is growing up so, so fast and we were really thinking about living at the Chateau with the children more than we are generating television."

"They are not [growing up in fame]," Dick said. "We have a really lovely normal life." Outside of rural France, their children do love to join their parents on their tour around the world. "The schools are very supportive because of the education that happens," Dick said. "We've been fortunate. We've been down to Australia and New Zealand. We did America and Canada earlier in the year but going around the UK is my personal favourite because I get to take the children to Ireland, to Scotland, to Wales, to England."

While the Strawbridges won't film another full Escape to the Chateau series, they are happy to invite the cameras for a TV update where they would only be "filming for a small amount of time" at their family home. "We haven't gone anywhere. We've got our podcast. We're really engaged with our community," Angel said.

"However, we have always said that we're very open to a little update because we are really aware that everyone that has followed us around the world, they want an update but that is very different from having the cameras here for the whole year and for the children."

Dick and Angel didn't split from Channel 4

There had been headlines about the Strawbridges splitting from Channel 4 but the couple explained they didn't "split" from Channel 4 and lifted the lid on what really went on behind the scenes. "We came to the end of what we were doing. It's interesting because you haven't heard us talking about splitting or anything like that," Dick said.

"We don't add fuel. We don't make a lot of conversations. We made the decision that series nine was the end of Escape to the Chateau at the beginning of 2022 and it was the right decision because Arthur is going to senior school and Dorothy is becoming more aware. That was the end of an era."

He added: "We didn't want to do anything where we had cameras with the children. So we made those decisions in '22. Secret France, we made the decision in '22 again, we were finished with that. We've come to the end of a period that for us was the end of an era of work. Arthur and Dorothy are going from strength to strength at a time when kids don't need the pressure of worrying about looking good for cameras or worrying about what people say. That’s a family decision."

Angel added: "However it's been played out, we'd already come to the end of Escape. It's hard splitting when you are already split."

It's not the first time the couple have faced misleading headlines, including one that claimed they were going to be selling their Chateau. They talked about how it has even impacted their fans. "There is a real sadness to this because some people who had followed us through felt sad that something had happened and we were changing our plans but we hadn't," Dick said.

However, the couple have a refreshing take on dealing with the headlines. They have the support of their loyal team including Tina, Steve and Sasha who have been there from the very start. "We've been here for ten years now," Dick said. "Everybody has been with us for a very long time and they all understand what's going on. We never had to justify anything to anybody who knows us."

Angel agreed saying: "Everyone around us is more irritated and wants to be passionate and ‘set the record straight’ and we have to say, ‘Let it go’."

Angel and Dick's exciting project

The Strawbridges will return to the UK for their biggest ever tour Forever Home on 6 October. At the heart of everything they do, which goes right back to the very start of the Escape to the Chateau years, Dick and Angel want to be inspirational.

This year, they want to inspire their fans to be their best versions of themselves with the Jack of All Trades competition in the interactive part of their tour. In their own lives, the Strawbridges always apply themselves to doing different things from cleaning the feet of a goat one day to building a water feature the next. They want to challenge the fans on their tour to try different things and put themselves out of their comfort zone.

"We don't pretend to be brilliant at everything," Angel said. "This is a you could be doing anything and everything show. We are really on the search for the ultimate Jack of All Trades because we are really believers that anyone could do anything when they set their mind to it."

One lucky winner of the competition will get to spend some time with the couple at the chateau. They hope to really change someone's life for the better. Dick explained: "At each venue we will have somebody who will win the title of being the Jack of All Trades for that town for that region. From those we intend to select one of our winners to come to the chateau."

He added: "From the tour, there will be somebody who comes out and spends some time with us. We will have a ball. That somebody's life should have changed quite a lot because they suddenly will realise, I can do anything and they should go forward and do it."

Dick & Angels Forever Home is touring the UK in 2024.

Escape to the Chateau is streaming on Channel 4.