BBC Great British Sewing Bee's new host Kiell Smith-Bynoe's life off-screen

The Great British Sewing Bee is back for a new series tonight - with a few changes in store for viewers. This year is the 10th anniversary of the show and it will be going back to its roots with challenges all inspired by its first series.

And there will also be a new host in the sewing room. Kiell Smith-Bynoe welcomes 12 new sewers into the competition on Tuesday (May 21) night at 9pm on BBC One.

He'll be joined by judges Patrick Grant and Esme Young as they keep a watchful eye on the contestants and choose who wins the week and who is sent home. In the first episode, the sewers will be making denim A-line midiskirts for the pattern challenge, and in the 90-minute Transformation Challenge they will turn a t-shirt into a completely different garment.

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The competitors will then meet their models for the first time and make their interpretation of a casual day dress in the made-to-measure Challenge.

But who is Kiell Smith-Bynoe and what do we know about his life off-screen? Below we look at his heritage, previous work and love for his family.

Who is Kiell Smith-Bynoe?

Kiell Smith-Bynoe is 34 and was born in London, where he still lives with his partner. He joined the East 15 acting school when he was younger and viewers might recognise him from some of his other TV work.

He appeared in the hit BBC sitcom Ghosts as well as comedy Man Like Mobeen, Taskmaster the Bafta-winning Stath Lets Flats and the Sky Atlantic comedy drama Dreamland. In an interview with the Guardian he revealed: "I like the things that come with fame, but I don’t necessarily want to be stopped in the middle of my dinner."

He has previously confessed that the greatest love of his life is his nan, although revealed his most treasured possession had been given to him by an ex partner. He explained: "A chain with a pendant of the masks of tragedy and comedy. An ex gave it to me and then I lost it. I searched for the exact chain and pendant for about a year, and I bought it and ordered it to their house, so they could give it to me again."

He's also spoken about his love for her heritage on social media, telling fans: "When I was younger, my mum used to take me to Barbados every summer holiday for almost the whole six weeks. I was FUMIN. All my friends were kicking footballs at cars in Forest Gate and I had to go to the beach everyday and pick fruit off the trees. I was livid.

"Fast forward to 2024 and I now know the cost of a plane ticket, I also know my mum is a better person than me coz if I was taking my child to the Caribbean and he had the nerve to even cross his arms at the beach i'd put him in a basket like Moses and let him float to St Vincent. Being able to take my mum back home for a month is a blessing, of course there were times I wanted to pop her on a cruise ship and let her give me a call when she got to Dover but I didn't coz i'm a good son.

"Also because she sent me to a private primary school to get the best possible start in life and at 14 I told her I was going to be a grime mc. I recently got my Barbadian citizenship and I feel proud to have heritage from such a beautiful place but it does NOT take 2 hours to make fishcakes. Does it even take 2 hours to fish?

"Come 14th January venues were still saying they had no stock because of New Years Eve. No it's because your staff were chasing that big bit of margarine. Dj Khaled around the island and got too tired to come to work. Anyway I love my country, love my people, love sleeping with a fan on instead of a heater so i'll be back real soon. Figure out how to accept apple pay by then? Or Apple Pie as my mum says. RIP Steve Jobs you would've loved Oistins on a friday night."

He paid a tribute to his uncle Will after his death last year. He posted: "My tribute to my Uncle read at his funeral - “My uncle cussed everyone. There probably isn’t a person in this room he didn’t cuss at one point. To be honest if he didn’t cuss you he probably didn’t like you very much. With some of the most obscure references someone could think of, often it was too funny for you to be offended.

"I remember the occasions both Uncle Will and Robert were at my nans house cussing each other and everyone else too. My first lessons in comedy, theres nowhere else I would learn to call somebody a whole half a rangoose. There were times I wasn’t sure what I wanted to be, what I always knew is that I wanted to be like my uncle. I wanted to be cool, I wanted to be funny, I wanted to be talented.

"He’s the whole reason I was even interested in making my own music, hearing stories from his travels all over the world and seeing the way songs would have an effect on him. I knew it was something I had to try. And when I did he made sure I tried my hardest. He’d listen to my tracks, tell me what he thought - maybe a bit too honestly. But always pushed me to be better. I didn’t maintain a career in music but I did take that work ethic into what I did next. And Uncle Will I thank you for that.

"I missed his calls twice before he passed. That’s something i’ll get over with time but what will stick with me is something he said the last time we spoke. He called me a friend. It’s an unusual feeling to be called a friend by a family member, because - lets be honest a lot of us would trade our family for some shiny pokemon cards. Though we stick with them, because they are our blood. But we choose our friends, and he chose me to be one. And like a good friend he’s probably cussing all of us now. Cussing me for not calling back, cussing some of you for your shiny shoes. Cussing all of us for crying. But we’re crying because we miss our friend and we’d do anything to hear him cuss again. I guess we’ll have to wait. My friend. My Uncle. MC Fats. Rest in Peace.”

Why did Sara Pascoe step down?

Sara Pascoe stepped down as host of the BBC programme after welcoming her second child. The comedian Sara welcomed her second child with husband Steen Raskopoulos in October last year, with the news being announced on the show's official Twitter page.

"Sending lots of love to Sara and her new baby!", the tweet read. Sara announced the birth writing: "I’ve been in a hormone hole for three weeks so excuse my lateness- allow me to introduce baby Albie.

“As a 42 year old infertile woman I can’t believe my luck to have had two children. I also can’t believe how much washing there is. I’ll see you at gigs later in the year when I’ve stopped crying every three minutes, lots of love.”

Sara was the programme's host since 2021, with it previously being fronted by fan-favourite comedian Joe Lycett and Strictly Come Dancing's Claudia Winkleman.

Series 10 of The Great British Sewing Bee starts on BBC One on Tuesday, May 21 at 9pm.