''Gardeners' World'' is a long-running British gardening programme, first broadcast on 5 January 1968. The 2022 series is the 53rd. Its first series was presented by Ken Burras and came from Oxford Botanical Gardens. Up until 2020 most of its episodes have been 30 minutes in duration; however, this changed in spring 2020 when the format was extended to an hour. All episodes in the 2021 series onwards follow this 60-minute format. ''Gardeners' World'' currently airs between mid-March and late October on BBC Two every Friday. The programme usually takes a three-month winter break from November to February. The programme's main presenter is currently

Monty Don Montagu Denis Wyatt Don (born George Montagu Don; 8 July 1955) is a British horticulturist, broadcaster, and writer who is best known as the lead presenter of the BBC gardening television series ''Gardeners' World''. Born in Germany and raised ...

. Other regular presenters include Adam Frost, Frances Tophill,

Joe Swift Joseph Samuel Swift (born 25 May 1965) is an English garden designer, journalist and television presenter. Television career Swift is a regular presenter and designer on the BBC's ''Gardeners' World'', co-presenter on the Royal Horticultural So ...

, Arit Anderson, Advolly Richmond, Nick Bailey,

Carol Klein Carol Ann Klein (born 24 June 1945) is an English gardening expert, who also works as a television presenter and newspaper columnist. Early life Born in Walkden, Lancashire, in 1945, Klein attended Bolton School but left school when she was 15 ...

, Mark Lane and Rachel de Thame. The magazine '' BBC Gardeners' World'' is a tie-in to the programme.

Presenters

Lead

Lead presenters have included: * Ken Burras (1968–1969) *

Percy Thrower Percy John Thrower (30 January 1913 – 18 March 1988) was a British gardener, horticulturist, Television presenter, broadcaster and writer born at Horwood House in the village of Little Horwood, Buckinghamshire. He became nationally known thr ...

(1969–1976) * Arthur Billitt (1976–1979) *

Geoff Hamilton Geoffrey Stephen Hamilton (15 August 1936 – 4 August 1996) was an English gardener, broadcaster and author, best known as presenter of BBC television's ''Gardeners' World'' in the 1980s and 1990s.

(1979–1996) * Geoffrey Smith (1980–1982) *

Alan Titchmarsh Alan Fred Titchmarsh HonFSE (born 2 May 1949) is an English gardener, broadcaster, TV presenter, poet, and novelist. After working as a professional gardener and a gardening journalist, he established himself as a media personality through a ...

(1996–2002) *

(2003–2008) *

Toby Buckland Toby Neale Buckland (born 11 October 1969) is an English gardener, TV presenter and author, best known for being the main presenter from 2008-10 of BBC's long running flagship gardening programme ''Gardeners' World''. In 2008 Buckland won RHS ...

(2008–2010) *

(2011–present)

Co-presenters

Co-presenters have included:

Alys Fowler Alys Fowler (born 9 November 1977) is a British horticulturist and journalist. She was a presenter on the long-running BBC television programme ''Gardeners' World''. Early life and education Fowler was born in Silchester, Hampshire, and had a r ...

Chris Baines Chris Baines (born 4 May 1947) is an English people, English naturalist, one of the UK's leading independent environmentalists.Chris Beardshaw Christopher Paul Beardshaw (born 11 January 1969) is a British garden designer, plantsman, author, speaker and broadcaster. Background Beardshaw was formally trained in Horticulture at Pershore College, and holds a BA Hons and PGDip in Landscape ...

, Mary Spiller, Liz Rigby,

Diarmuid Gavin Diarmuid Gavin (born 10 May 1964) is an Irish garden designer and television personality. He has presented gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show on nine occasions from 1995 to 2016, winning a number of medals, including gold in 2011. He has also ...

, Clay Jones,

Stefan Buczacki Stefan T. Buczacki (born 16 October 1945) is a British horticulturist, botanist, biographer, novelist and broadcaster. Early life Buczacki grew up in Duffield, Derbyshire, where he was educated at The Ecclesbourne School. He gained a first-cla ...

, Christine Walkden,

Sarah Raven Sarah Clare Raven (born 1963) is an English gardener, cook and writer. Background Raven was born in Cambridge, the daughter of John Earle Raven (d. 1980), a classics don and Senior Tutor at King's College, Cambridge, and his wife Faith ''née' ...

Gay Search Gay Search is a British television presenter and journalist. She worked on the BBC television series ''Gardeners' World'' with Geoff Hamilton, and on the series ''Front Gardens''. Search started her horticultural career writing the garden column fo ...

Anne Swithinbank Anne Swithinbank (born 1957 in Belvedere in Kent) is a trained horticulturist and freelance gardening broadcaster who has written several books on gardening, including ''Gardener's Question Time: All Your Gardening Problems Solved'', ''Gardeners ...

, Nigel Colborn, Geoffrey Smith,

Roy Lancaster Charles Roy Lancaster CBE (born 1937) is a British plantsman, gardener, author and broadcaster. Background Charles Roy Lancaster was born in Farnworth, Lancashire and is most widely known for his work on the long running BBC TV programme, ''Garden ...

Peter Seabrook Peter John Seabrook Order of the British Empire (MBE), MBE (2 November 1935 – 14 January 2022) was a British gardening writer and television broadcaster, presenting programmes including the BBC's ''Gardeners' World''. He wrote a gardening colu ...

, Ali Ward,

Pippa Greenwood Pippa Greenwood is an English plant pathologist. She appears frequently on the BBC's long-running ''Gardeners' World'' television programme and has been a regular panellist on ''Gardeners' Question Time'' on BBC Radio 4 since 1994. She also was ...

, Rachel de Thame, Frances Tophill,

Bob Flowerdew Bob Flowerdew is an organic gardener and television and radio presenter. He is a regular panel member of BBC Radio 4's ''Gardeners' Question Time''. He has nearly an acre of garden in Dickleburgh, Norfolk, England, where he lives with his wife ...

, Mark Lane, Adam Frost, Arit Anderson, John Kelly, Nick Bailey, Flo Headlam, Arthur Parkinson,

JJ Chalmers John-James Chalmers (born 20 December 1986) is a Scottish television presenter, public speaker and Invictus Games medallist. He was injured in a bomb blast in Afghanistan in 2011, while serving as a Royal Marine. Early life Chalmers was born o ...

, and Sue Kent.

Locations

Since its inception in 1968, the show was presented until 2003 from the lead presenter's own garden. In 2011, the show returned to this practice. *First was

's The Magnolias in

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

*Then Arthur Billitt's Clack's Farm at

Ombersley Ombersley is a village and civil parish in Wychavon district, in the county of Worcestershire, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Holt Fleet, where Telford's 1828 Holt Fleet Bridge crosses the River Severn. The 2011 census recorded a ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

*Followed by two gardens, both called

Barnsdale Barnsdale, or Barnsdale Forest, is an area of South and West Yorkshire, England. The area falls within the modern-day districts of Doncaster and Wakefield. Barnsdale was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Barnsdale lies in the ...

, owned by

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

*Next was

's garden at Woodroyd in

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) *Alton (surname) Places Australia *Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario *Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zealand, ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, renamed ''Barleywood'' for the programme *Next was a rented garden, called Burmans Farm at Shottery () in

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

which was called ''Berryfields'' for the purposes of the programme although it was often described as a 'top secret location near

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

' *Partly as a result of changes in the presenters, for the 2009 series the garden was relocated to

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family an ...

. A playing-field was redeveloped and this garden was given the name ''Greenacre''. This garden was intended to be a permanent home for the programme. *In 2011, with the return of

, the base relocated to Don's own garden ''Longmeadow'' in

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

().

Critical response

As the primary gardening programme on

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

, the programme has attracted vocal opinion on the merits both of its presenters and its content. The 2009 season introduced several new features, many of which were not well received. Criticism was especially harsh regarding the high cost of certain features such as the hard landscaping and raised-beds and what was widely regarded as the dumbed-down and derivative content. The 'Cool Wall' which mimicked ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

'', a competition for training places which aped ''

The Apprentice ''The Apprentice'' is a Reality competition, reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States. Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with variou ...

'', children from CBeebies and content such as a feature on

garden gnome Garden gnomes (german: links=no, Gartenzwerge, lit=garden dwarfs) are lawn ornament figurines of small humanoid creatures based on the mythological creature and diminutive spirit which occur in Renaissance magic and alchemy, known as gnomes. Th ...

s annoyed many viewers. Much of the widespread criticism was also directed at the fact that the show no longer came from a real garden. But 'Greenacre' was a field, part of

Winterbourne Botanic Garden Winterbourne Botanic Garden is a heritage site and botanic garden in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. It is owned by the University of Birmingham. The house was built as a family home for the Nettlefold family in 1904. The garden is a rare survi ...

. The 2010 show saw public approval change, after alterations to the show's production. The show's length was returned to the original 30 minutes and several features of the 2009 series, such as the '30 second fix', were dropped. The show concentrated more on gardening content, reintroducing 'Jobs for the weekend' and focusing on plant species. In March 2011 Monty Don returned as the main presenter of the programme. In 2016 new executive producer Paolo Proto (previously producer of ''

The Great British Bake Off ''The Great British Bake Off'' (often abbreviated to ''Bake Off'' or ''GBBO'') is a British television baking competition, produced by Love Productions, in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other in a series of rounds, att ...

'') extended the programme from 30 minutes to one hour in September and October, also introducing new presenters Adam Frost, Frances Tophill, Nick Bailey, Nick Macer, Florence Headlam and Arit Anderson. On 20 August 2021 the programme featured a visit, to Monty Don's garden at Longmeadow, by

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. She became queen consort on 8 September 2022, upon the acc ...

Theme tunes

The very first theme tune to the series in 1968 was a piece composed by Peter Craddy and played by Michael Saxton on

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

. A year later this was replaced by the long-running ''Green Fingers'' composed by John Clarke and Reg Reid, played by Harold Rich & His Players, a version of which, with sweeping strings, was soon used. The most famous theme, which had the longest run from the late 1980s through the 1990s and is still heard in a slightly classical vein today, is a guitar piece that was composed by Nick Webb and

Greg Carmichael Greg Carmichael (born 7 August 1953) is a British guitarist and co-founding member (along with Nick Webb) of contemporary jazz group Acoustic Alchemy. His primary instrument is the nylon-string acoustic guitar. He joined the band in 1985 as a par ...

. It had two titles, one for commercial release and one for library, ''Morning Light'' and ''Natural Elements''. ''Natural Elements'' was the title track of a commercial album released in 1988 on

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

under the composers' band name of

Acoustic Alchemy Acoustic Alchemy is an English smooth jazz band formed in England in the early 1980s by Nick Webb and Simon James. 1981–1989: Early days Acoustic Alchemy was formed around the acoustic guitars of Simon James ( nylon string) and Nick Webb ( ...

. The current theme tune, introduced in 2014, is an arrangement of "Morning Light" by

Will Gregory William Owen Gregory (born 17 September 1959) is an English musician and record producer. He is best known as the lead keyboardist, producer, and composer of the electronic music duo Goldfrapp. Early life Gregory was born in Bristol, the son ...

Links and spin offs

Former lead presenter, Alan Titchmarsh later teamed up with

Charlie Dimmock Charlotte Elouise Dimmock (born 10 August 1966) is an English gardening expert and television presenter. She was a member of the team on '' Ground Force'', a BBC gardening makeover programme, airing from 1997 to 2005. Since then, Dimmock has ...

and Tommy Walsh to make the series ''

Ground Force ''Ground Force'' was a British garden makeover television series originally broadcast by the BBC between 1997 and 2005. The series was originally hosted by Alan Titchmarsh, Charlie Dimmock and Tommy Walsh. Production The series was created b ...

''. This was about rapid garden makeovers. A book based on the history of the series entitled ''Gardeners' World Through The Years'' was released in 2003 by

BBC Gardeners' World Live

The BBC

Gardeners' World Live BBC Gardeners' World Live is a large multi-day gardening related consumer show held each June at the National Exhibition Centre, England, co-located with the BBC Good Food Show Summer. Open to the general public, the BBC television programme endor ...

Show is an extension of the television programme and magazine. Running annually in June, it is hosted at the Birmingham NEC, co-located with the BBC Summer Good Food Show. The show includes live appearances from the presenters giving topical advice and tips including many of the presenters, such as Alan Titchmarsh, Monty Don, Carol Klein and Joe Swift, Toby Buckland, Alys Fowler, Chris Baines, Diarmuid Gavin, Anne Swithinbank, Pippa Greenwood, Rachel de Thame, Bob Flowerdew and Mark Lane. The presenters film at BBC Gardeners' World Live, with the content aired within the programme on the Friday night of the live show. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the 2020 show was cancelled, with the next scheduled for 17–20 June 2021. A number of new rose varieties have been launched at the show including * 2016: Roses UK presented the new 'Eve Rose' to Simon Lycett on behalf of the Eve Foundation * 2008: Rachel de Thame presented the new rose 'Prince Caspian' to actor Ben Barnes * 2005: The show presented the new 'Duchess of Cornwall' rose to the

Duchess of Cornwall Duchess of Cornwall is a courtesy title held by the wife of the eldest son and heir of the British monarch. The current title-holder is Catherine, wife of William, Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall. Duchesses of Cornwall Until her husband' ...

References

External links