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Gardeners World
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Message 1.聽
Posted by Dave Ritchie (U14468933) on Friday, 14th May 2010
I am only 45 years old but have faithfully watched this show through the days of Geoff Hamilton and Alan Titchmarsh. Having just tuned in again tonight after an absence I have to say it is absolutley dreadful. The presenters are awful, with no personality or vigour and I have to say the program is really truly dull. You need to liven this up, instructive? Yes. Entertaining? Absolutely not
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Message 2
Posted by Salino (U2550900) on Friday, 14th May 2010
...I find it just the opposite. Besides, Toby's gorgeous
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Message 3
Posted by tattiebogle (U11728394) on Friday, 14th May 2010
Dave, I wouldn't say the presenters are awful, but there is definitely something lacking - there is no passion or real love of plants coming across, Carol being the exeption. I don't think Toby is the right person to be the main presenter. He was talking to the camera as if he was talking to a class of 4 year olds. He had stopped doing that but it's creeping back. Joe and Toby are primarily designers, perhaps that's the problem, and the production team should look for plantsmen/women instead.
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Message 4
Posted by happytobyfan (U13663471) on Saturday, 15th May 2010
Joe and Toby are primarily designers, perhaps that's the problem,聽
Joe - Yes. Toby - wherever did you get that from?? You obviously know very little (nothing even) about Toby's background. -
Message 5
Posted by tattiebogle (U11728394) on Sunday, 16th May 2010
Happytobyfan, I admit I don't know a lot about Toby's background, but it's coming across on GW that Toby is more interested in building projects and planting themes than the actual plants themselves.
If you google Toby Buckland, the description of his official website reads 'Garden designer, author and TV presenter'. He specialises in using recycled materials, which to me is garden design. -
Message 6
Posted by darren p (U8518743) on Sunday, 16th May 2010
toby has an impressive background in horticulture- but the current format is far too 'buy a plant and stick it in' for me to love.
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Message 7
Posted by happytobyfan (U13663471) on Sunday, 16th May 2010
Hi Tattiebogle
I can see where you got it from then. His own website obviously isn't doing him justice then, is it.
I don't dislike Joe - he comes across as being a leally likeable guy, but from what I've seen in the past (on the much missed Sky Garden Chanel), and read on the internet, the only thing he has in common with Toby is that they're both on Gardeners' World -
Message 8
Posted by jauntycyclist (U14199772) on Monday, 17th May 2010
they tried the presenter cult thing last season. it wasn't pretty. this is much better.
if you look at the main people making the show they are mainly women who have made it 'watch with mumsy'.
which might explain the feminisation of the men? -
Message 9
Posted by Trillium (U2170869) on Wednesday, 19th May 2010
which might explain the feminisation of the men聽
Ooooh what a corker of a conversation-opener.
I'm intrigued by what you perceive denotes femininity in the men's presenting style.
I think the fact that Toby has slowed right down and now handles individual plants and seedlings with such apparent love is a major change since last year. I see it as something he's had to work on - gardening more like a careful amateur than the quick professional nurseryman he is. I don't see this as feminisation - more like conscious amateurisation to relate more closely to the audience. -
Message 10
Posted by Madonplants (U5524817) on Saturday, 22nd May 2010
Dave, I'm only a year older than you and watched it most of my life, as my Dad was a professional gardener before he retired and I'd rather have instructive than entertaining. If you want entertaining, go and watch something with Nick Knowles in it! I must admit, Toby is not like Alan or Geoff, but don't think he is too bad and those two presenters had their own garden to work in, which makes a huge difference I think.
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Message 11
Posted by ali (U14478042) on Saturday, 22nd May 2010
I am a very keen gardener and have always been an avid GW fan, but now find the programme very
dumbed down, aimed more at the beginner than it used to be with previous presenters, consequently now don't enjoy much of it and many friends agree with me. Carol is always interesting and informative and enjoy the visits to other gardens, but Toby and to some extent Joe
talk to us as if we are still in pre school. Wise up fellas and treat us with some respect. -
Message 12
Posted by Ian H (U14486456) on Saturday, 29th May 2010
For me, while I thought Toby was at first very good & now I consider too often not watching GW any more - and Joe simply annoyed me, particularly that whole allotment thing - I now realise that actually, the problem is that I thought Alan Titchmarsh was so very good at the job. Watching the Chelsea programming this week even the Alan & Joe pairing worked surprisingly well and I wondered if the success of Alan is his terrific and infectious personality.
How I wish he could return to present GW. I enjoyed and learnt so much from the programme in those days. -
Message 13
Posted by Paul N (U6451125) on Monday, 31st May 2010
I'm surprised this subject is still being discussed as surely it's been done to death. Alan, returning to GW? It's never going to happen. For my part, the programme is a great improvement on last year's sorry effort. It will never get back to the quality of the GH-AT-MD years but it's a not bad at all.
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Message 14
Posted by 1stClassAlan (U2459016) on Tuesday, 1st June 2010
Well, I've been modded several times for what I've said about the presenters in the past so I'll have to be careful! The programmers - all the 麻豆官网首页入口 backstaffers obviously think that the lastest line up of presenters is what's called for to change the image of gardening on T.V. - or perhaps kill it off for good?
All of them do actually garden - and I'm not going to say amateurishly as there are some fantastic amateur gardeners as all flower and veggis shows up and down the country bear witness; however; they don't come across as fully competent - this may well be an attempt at portraying a down-to-earth, let's-not-alienate-the-proles kind of idea but to me it needs a few more takes or better direction( oops that's me modded again!)
Educate, inform and entertain used to be the B.B.C remit carved in stone, and at least two of those need a certain amount of elitism to qualify which doesn't sit very well these days. -
Message 15
Posted by Miss-polly (U14402803) on Wednesday, 2nd June 2010
I agree that it鈥檚 been discussed a lot, but there must be new people joining the boards, so I think its good that they have their say too, I never watched Geoff Hamilton but have heard very favourable reports, but the in those days, there was no internet forum to moan and criticise his every move (which I鈥檓 sure would happen if he was around now) so do you think its a case of looking back with rose coloured spectacles?
Alan was my first presenter and when he left it took me quite a few programmes to warm to Monty. I鈥檓 still trying to get used to Toby and Joe but I鈥檝e always liked Carole and unlike some (I really don鈥檛 get it how critical some post have been) I warmed to Ayls straight away, her first appearance with Monty, when he introduced her as head gardener, a young woman gardener who been working in the background for a while, I thought it was a good idea to let her do some presenting.
It was so nice to see Chris Beardshaw and Rachel de Thame at the Chelsea flower show, they too are very good presenters and I鈥檇 forgotten how much I鈥檇 liked their style. I do think sometime that we presume too much when we put forward our candidates for GW presenters, they might not want the job, but its good to discuss who we鈥檇 like.
And I鈥檓 going to disagree with 1stclassalan - I don鈥檛 want prefect gardening because its not, its trail and error, I鈥檝e been gardening for a good ten years or more and still think and feel like a novice and welcome every bit of help and advice I can get. Don鈥檛 you think it good to see failures as well as success? -
Message 16
Posted by garrigillgal (U14258845) on Wednesday, 2nd June 2010
Hi Miss-polly,
Don鈥檛 you think it good to see failures as well as success? 聽
I agree - that's why I enjoyed Alys's series - she showed us what didn't work and her disappointment with the sleet damage to her precious plants - she made me feel as if she was genuine in her feelings. I thought she worked well with Monty but not so with Toby -
But....I do need to see the correct way to do things as well - sort of like a 'masterclass' in specifics - we can have both surely. -
Message 17
Posted by Obelixx (U2157162) on Wednesday, 2nd June 2010
I have been watching GW since 1983 so had the benefit of a few years of GH and AT. I liked Monty most of the time but he could be a bit "sackcloth and ashes" about plants and materials and tended to throw money at inappropriate objects such as those expensive rusty obelisks. I think gardening is fun and can produce gorgeous fruits, veggies and flowers without a hefty bank balance if you are resourceful and that's what GW should be showing us.
When there was still a Gardening channel on Sky I watched some old GWs with GH and AT and they always inspired me with the joys, fun and possibilities of gardening and made me want to try new plants and combinations and methods. Their presenting style was inclusive, practical and down to earth and GH was always careful to show inexpensive ways of gardening as well as higher budget possibilities.
I'm afraid that what I learned from them, plus years of my own trial and error plus watching the fiasco of last year's GW and that allotment make me distrustful of Toby's advice and I find his and Joe's antics shoddy and slapdash. Nor do I like the way they talk down to their audience.
I do want excellence in garden presenters because I can't afford for everything to be an experiment that may fail and lose me time and money. One of the things I appreciate enormously on Beechgrove is that they do comparisons of plants and growing methods and new materials to see what works best and then they show both failures and successes.
Having said all that, GW is much improved this year but was starting from a very low base. It still has a long way to go. I am finding Carol's slots on plant families very informative but the quality of the stuff from Greenacres is inconsistent. -
Message 18
Posted by RedCauli (U14159680) on Wednesday, 2nd June 2010
Miss-polly. Geoff used to comment sometimes on how many letters he'd received after some of the things he did. I remember after his primulas had finished flowering he transferred them to a corner of the garden to build up for the following year and he first trimmed the leaves down to a couple of inches. Letters poured in apparently, saying that was wrong, so a few weeks later he revisited them to show how well they were doing. Same thing happened when he tried growing strawberries through black plastic and again he later showed them fruiting well, and there were many more instances. After Geoff died, his wife Lynda was being interviewed and the subject of critism came up. She said of course he got lots of critical post but he would say it reminded him that not everyone liked him. Then he would pin them to the walls of the outside loo so visitors to Barnsdale could read them! Geoff was always supportive of younger gardeners and I think he and Toby, Alys, etc. would have got along fine.
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Message 19
Posted by Miss-polly (U14402803) on Thursday, 3rd June 2010
Thank you for your replies, Redcauli I found your post very touching, he was indeed well loved by GW viewers.
And I agree with garrigillgal I think we do need a masterclass but I do wonder at the term correct way, there seems to be so many ways you can do something in gardening which is something I鈥檓 just learning, I鈥檝e just started veg growing and only the other day was watching one programme where it said earth up potatoes when they just poking through and then another which said when they鈥檙e about 10鈥 one where they earthed with compost and in a mag it said, don鈥檛 use compost use soil. Very confusing. (mine are in a potato sack)
I also agree with you obelixx, that it can be expensive to experiment, I鈥檝e just started watching Beechgrove , watched 3 so far (Jim鈥檚 a card isn鈥檛 he) at first I found it a little old fashioned but now I鈥檓 enjoying it, very informative, I like Carole, the way she rolls her R鈥檚, its early in the season for them being a bit colder than where I am in the Midlands but good programme and I鈥檓 looking forward to seeing how it develops over the year.
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