''Gardeners' World'' is a long-running British gardening programme, first broadcast on 5 January 1968. The 2024 series is the 55th. 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 four-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 an English horticulturist, broadcaster, and writer who is best known as the lead presenter of the BBC gardening television series '' Gardeners' World''. Born in Germany and rai ...

. Other regular presenters include Adam Frost, Frances Tophill, Joe Swift,

Arit Anderson Arit Anderson is a British garden designer, writer, and television presenter. She has presented on the BBC show '' Gardeners World'' and the BBC One show ''Garden Rescue''. Biography Anderson was born in London and raised in Hertfordshire by a sin ...

, Advolly Richmond, Nick Bailey, Carol Klein, Mark Lane and Rachel de Thame. The magazine ''

BBC Gardeners' World ''BBC Gardeners' World'' is a monthly British gardening magazine owned by Immediate Media Company, containing tips for gardening from past and current presenters of the television series '' Gardeners' World''. History and profile ''BBC Garden ...

'' is a tie-in to the programme.

Presenters

Lead

Lead presenters have included: * Ken Burras (1968–1969) * Percy Thrower (1969–1976) * Arthur Billitt (1976–1979) * Geoff Hamilton (1979–1996) * Geoffrey Smith (1980–1982) *

Alan Titchmarsh Alan Fred Titchmarsh (born 2 May 1949) is an English gardener, broadcaster and writer. After working as a professional gardener and a horticultural journalist, he became a radio and television presenter and a novelist. Early career Alan Fred T ...

(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 to 2010 of BBC's long running flagship gardening programme '' Gardeners' World''. In 2008 Buckland ...

(2008–2010) *

(2011–present)

Co-presenters

Co-presenters have included: Alys Fowler, Chris Baines,

Chris Beardshaw Christopher Paul Beardshaw (born 11 January 1969) is a British garden designer, plantsman, author, speaker, and broadcaster. Background Beardshaw was born and grew up in Broad Green, near Broadwas, Worcestershire. He was formally trained in ho ...

, 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 als ...

, 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, Duffield, Derbyshire, where he was educated at The Ecclesbourne School. ...

, Christine Walkden, Sarah Raven,

Gay Search Mary Gay Laryea (' Search; born 1 May 1945) is an English television presenter and journalist. She worked on the BBC television series ''Gardeners' World'' with Geoff Hamilton, and on the series ''Front Gardens''. Early life Mary Gay Search was ...

, Anne Swithinbank, Nigel Colborn, Geoffrey Smith, Roy Lancaster, Peter Seabrook, Joe Swift, Ali Ward, Pippa Greenwood, Rachel de Thame, Frances Tophill, Carol Klein, Bob Flowerdew, Mark Lane, Adam Frost,

, John Kelly, Nick Bailey, Flo Headlam, Arthur Parkinson, JJ Chalmers, Advolly Richmond, Rekha Mistry 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 Percy Thrower's The Magnolias near

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

*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 Thomas Telford, Telford's 1828 Holt Fleet Bridge crosses the River Severn. The 2011 Un ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

*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 is commonly ...

, owned by Geoff Hamilton in

Rutland Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town. Rutland has a ...

*Next was

's garden at Woodroyd in Alton,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, 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 Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of Engl ...

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 status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

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

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically in Warwickshire. The Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of Edgbaston and Nort ...

. 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 Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

().

Critical response

The 2010 show 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, atte ...

'') 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

Theme tunes

The first theme tune to the series in 1968 was a piece composed by Peter Craddy and played by Michael Saxton on clarinet. 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. 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. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

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 (musician), Nick Webb and Simon James (musician), Simon James. 1981–1989: Early days Acoustic Alchemy was formed around the acoustic guitars of ...

. 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 and Tommy Walsh to make the series ''

Ground Force ''Ground Force'' is 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 Show is an extension of the television programme and magazine. Running annually in June, it is hosted at the

Birmingham NEC The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) is an exhibition centre located in Marston Green, England, near to Birmingham and Solihull. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International rai ...

, 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, 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 The Duchess of Cornwall is a title held by the wife of the heir apparent to the British throne. The Duchess of Cornwall is usually also the Princess of Wales, and she uses that title. The current title-holder is Catherine, Princess of Wales, Ca ...

Notes

References

External links