I was so very sorry to learn that Toby and Alys had been given the order of the garden boot. I had grown to enjoy their enthusiasm. Some of Toby's ideas reminded me of the late lamented Geoff Hamilton. Even those of us who have been gardening for years need to be reminded of the basics. How else will we encourage younger people to care for their plots? It saddens me to watch young neighbours pulling up plants and ignoring their gardens. There is so much pleasure in gardening. A few more younger presenters like Alys and Toby are sorely needed. And could someone please tell Joe how to pronounce secateurs.
Although I have nothing against Monty Don, it seems rather unfair of the BBC to just oust Toby Buckland and Alys Fowler. They are both excellent, hands on gardeners and I hope they will be given a chance to present some sort of gardening programme in the future. Viewers do actually notice their presenters and the way they are treated!
Worst news for ages - how can the BBC just make Toby leave like that. I am appalled that they have treated him so badly and put back the only GW presenter I did not like.I will not be bothering to watch again until we get our proper presenters back.
We are very disappointed Monty Don is returning. Would have liked to see what happened to Greenacres this year. Is this another waste of BBC money, along with the instant gardening Monty Don does. Rachel de Thame dosen't convince as a gardener. So will be finding another programme for Fridays in future. Shame as we have been fans since Geoff Hamilton's programmes.
I am very disappointed. I will miss Toby - I liked his style, his humour and fresh approach. I don't think he deserved to be dropped. Also the BBC must have invested much licence-payers' money in developing Greenacre - what, I wonder, will they do with it now?
When will the BBC realise that what intelligent gardeners want is a sound knowledge of the subject in the GW presenters. Frankly Toby and Alys have that in bucket loads but Monty does not. All we shall get is glister and bling - not what I look for in GW. Count me out - oh and my wife says she will not bother with the retrograde line up either.
I will add to my husbands comments as I am so upset that Toby and Alys have been put out by the not so good Monty. I found him very irritating on GW and spent a fair bit of time astounded at some of the rubbish he spouted. In the end I gave up and then when I found out he had no background in gardening I was not surprised. We all come to gardening by different routes and most of us have it as a leisure activity. I do expect to get my advice from people that are well educated in their subject. I get plenty of advice from friends that know about gardening but none of them would play at presenting GW. The BBC put on plenty of cookery programmes with trained chefs so why should gardeners get 2nd best and not get a trained gardener on the only programme they have? We should have our own gardening programme - a proper GW and let those that want a bit of bling have one with Monty and Rachel.
We are really upset at the change. We lost interest when Monty was on last time and Toby was a breath of fresh air with a down to earth practical approach and in the same mould as Geoff. His cheery disposition and friendly style was a pleasure to watch. This feels like a big step backwards. We sincerely hope that space for Toby can be found in another programme. Don't shoot the messenger when the message is the problem.
I haven't read all 601 posts so may be repeating someone else's comment. Let's put the presenter's personalities to one side for a moment and get the root of the problem - we need more than one gardening program! Auntie Beeb will never please all British gardeners with any kind of format for GW. We need a choice of programs, so that both experienced gardeners and novices can be attracted to watch, learn and enjoy whichever one suits them. A single site, like Greenacre or a presenter's garden, could be used for both levels, but the Beeb would need to choose the right gardeners/presenters for the different skill levels. One cookery program doesn't suit all viewers so, Auntie Beeb, why do you expect GW to cater for everyone?
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Count me out - oh and my wife says she will not bother with the retrograde line up either.
The BBC put on plenty of cookery programmes with trained chefs so why should gardeners get 2nd best and not get a trained gardener on the only programme they have?
We should have our own gardening programme - a proper GW and let those that want a bit of bling have one with Monty and Rachel.
We sincerely hope that space for
Toby can be found in another programme. Don't shoot the messenger when the message is the problem.
One cookery program doesn't suit all viewers so, Auntie Beeb, why do you expect GW to cater for everyone?