Michael McCaul and Sophie Thompson are the owners of Carlisle-based investment and development company, Santo Mil Properties Ltd., and are set to star on the BBC television series after filming with presenter Martel Maxwell on Wednesday, November 19.
The pair also launched The Property Investment Academy (PIA) – North West in November after being approached by PIA’s founder Steven Green.
As part of their filming with Martel, The BBC crew followed Michael and Sophie through their renovations plans, as well as discussing their approach to property investment and creative deal structuring to allow for the completion of multiple projects at once.
“We were buzzing. Homes Under the Hammer is a show we’ve grown up watching, it’s probably inspired half the property investors in the country, so getting the chance to be part of it felt surreal,” Michael said, speaking to the News & Star.
“Martel and the team were amazing to work with and such lovely people, it was fun from start to finish.
“The experience was brilliant. The crew followed us through the full plans for the renovation.
“We walked them through our experience first then moved onto the numbers, the strategy behind the purchase and our plans for the refurb.
“They were especially interested in how we approach property investment at such a young age and how we creatively structure deals to allow us to do multiple projects at one time.
“This project is a joint venture so shout out to our JV partners for their help on this one too.
“We told them how we will create the uplift in value through smart refurb work and our focus on making properties both financially strong and genuinely great homes.
This project is one that is going to be a challenge as the margins are quite tight but we’re confident in what we can do.
“We have set high expectations with the BBC so hopefully we can pull it off.”
“It was a fun mix of filming walkthroughs, explaining our thought process, and capturing those ‘on-site’ moments that people love about the show.”
Despite an exact broadcast yet not yet being confirmed, Michael and Sophie expect to appear in a Homes Under The Hammer episode in summer 2026.
Ahead of the airing of the episode, Michael explained more about how the experience with the BBC fits into the pair’s ethos of making property knowledge ‘more accessible’.
He said: “It felt incredible. We’re huge believers in making property knowledge more accessible, we wouldn’t be where we are today if other people hadn’t shared what they knew.
“To be able to talk property on a platform as big as national TV is a massive honour.
“If even one person watches the episode and realises, ‘actually… I could do this too,’ then it will have been worth every minute. Inspiring people to take that first step is what we care about.”
