How boring of the BBC to give us a series of repeats - that is what having Monty back will be like. Exceedingly boring and a real retrograde move. As it recovers from the freezing winter I want renewal and change in my garden. I do not want to return to the dull old days and ways again on GW . I thought Toby and Alys were absolutely fantastic. They were innovative and informative and I will miss them and their cheerful programme.Gardens are joyful places and they were just right for that. I shall stay out in my potting shed and give the return of Monty a wide berth as he is not going to inspire me to create a new garden. He inspired me to turn off last time and I will do so again.
Forgot to add I have cancelled the magazine as well - Monty is not worth my wasting money on. It is bad enough that my licence fee will go to pay for this mans garden.I can not think how insufferable he will be at gwLive so I will go to a proper garden show instead. The BBC has let the viewers down very badly by giving way to a poor decision and hiring this D list celeb to pretend to garden and then to crow about his employment in the magazine. A poor show in every sense of the word.
I feel so upset by this move to oust Toby and Allys. He was certainly one of the best presenters of G.W. ever. I feel like cancelling my subscription, and wish that I had't booked already for GWlive, which has always been my favourite day out of the year. It does not make logical sense to remove Toby.He was so natural in his manner down to earth, not unlike Alan. I think he should have his own programme.Then some of us would definately ditch GWorld.
After Monty Don's somewhat dull presentation of GW, Toby was a breath of fresh air. The programme was aimed at novice and experienced gardeners, and after 30 years of gardening I always found something of interest. Alys as well brought a welcome change of approach to GW. I am very sorry that they are both going and not at all pleased that Monty is returning.
I've only just seen the news, on another discussion page, of MD's return and the ousting of Toby & Alys! Is Joe going as well? I'm surprised and disappointed - I've never liked MD's style of presenting, always stuck right in front of what we really want to be looking at - the plant or garden. Why on earth wasn't Carol Klein asked? The success of her current series on her Cottage Garden is excellent, she is so knowledgeable and such an experienced gardener. What a disappointment - another series I won't be watching.
I've also just seen the news & am bitterly disappointed to see the return of MD and the loss of Toby & Alys. MD's taste & style is an unfortunate reflection of his personality which he admits is depressive. I see the presentation of on screen gardening as being two fold a) to teach/inform/inspire all gardeners, but, in particular new gardeners, to when & how & why of gardening. The likes of Percy Thrower, Geoffrey Smith and Geoff Hamilton all did this particuarly well and Toby can be well proud that he recognised this need and bought this aspect back to the program. I have read the comments of some who, because of their advanced gardening knowledge, seem to forget that there are loads of "new" gardeners EVERY YEAR and they need sound basic advice which is also good refresher stuff for us all. It's amazing how much new knowledge can be learned by these refresher items - techniques and methods can and do change with better science, it really is possible to teach old dogs new tricks ! b) to bring new plants to attention and best use. The victorians spent huge amounts of time and money bringing plants from all over the world back here. This has resulted in a spectacular diversity of plant life and colour which now makes up our gardens, we are indeed fortunate for this inheritance. For all his travels, having watched all of MD's programs, I wonder how/why his colour pallete is so dissapointingly small. I am constantly dismayed at his boring insistance with the"green & white" style and this disease has struck everywhere on TV - just check out how the Chelsea show gardens have gone ! Even Alan Titchmarsh joined in the green & white avalanche but just have a good long look at his own garden, it's a riot of colour and variety and that is what most of us want !! We have mainly green all winter long and our country side is mainly green. My god, the last thing we want all over the garden for the better months is more green !?! Both Toby and Alys have excellent sound training and knowledge which the likes of part timers and dabblers like MD will never be able to match. It's the wrong call and for the wrong reasons, Toby should have had an hour for the program in order to develop styles and themes properly, he never even had a constant time. His treatment by the BBC has been unapreciative and shabby, we have lost out badly. How they can re-employ someone who left the programme in the lurch at such short notice is beyond me. Amazing wasn't it how his "illness" never affected his writing and other TV programms at the time. Perhaps that was part time also like his gardening !!
Having just received my February subscription of GW, oh no! Not Monty Dull again! Not a patch on Geoff, Alan or Toby. Monty Don? Dull, dreary, uninspiring, humourless prima donna. I'm not interested in which plants/shrubs the presenter can't stand, and as for foisting his opinions on the viewer, that's something which Geoff, Alan or Toby have never done. On no, again! Rachel de Thame, or should that be Mrs Marigold? She's a presenter NOT a gardener - useless. As for having the programme coming from the presenter's garden, excuses, excuses. Having moved to Scotland some years ago, "The Beechgrove Garden" has never come from a presenter's garden, but it's informative and interesting and amusing. So the production staff on GW where the ones to be changed, not the presenters. It'll be selective viewing in future.
Roll on March!!! Look forward to seeing a decent gardening programme once more with the return of Monty. What a load of rubbish we've had to put up with for the last couple of years.
Wasn't aware until recently that Monty had a stroke in '08 - Monty take care of yourself! You're too precious to lose! Such a shame that we 'down under' don't have access to BBC gardening programs on free to air TV - they sound lovely! Cheers to you all and happy gardening!
The news that Monty is coming back is just fantastic. He has been an inspiration to me ever since I started gardening. Hope that he can teach a few more organic methods to viewers and continue to provide inspiration throughout the season. Toby was OK, but as others said, could be a little dull. Alys was, well, Alys.
Posts
The BBC has let the viewers down very badly by giving way to a poor decision and hiring this D list celeb to pretend to garden and then to crow about his employment in the magazine. A poor show in every sense of the word.
I feel like cancelling my subscription, and wish that I had't booked already for GWlive, which has always been my favourite day out of the year. It does not make logical sense to remove Toby.He was so natural in his manner down to earth, not unlike Alan.
I think he should have his own programme.Then some of us would definately ditch GWorld.
Percy Thrower, Geoffrey Smith and Geoff Hamilton all did this particuarly well and Toby can be well proud that he recognised this need and bought this aspect back to the program. I have read the comments of some who, because of their advanced gardening knowledge, seem to forget that there are loads of "new" gardeners EVERY YEAR and they need sound basic advice which is also good refresher stuff for us all. It's amazing how much new knowledge can be learned by these refresher items - techniques and methods can and do change with better science, it really is possible to teach old dogs new tricks ! b) to bring new plants to attention and best use.
The victorians spent huge amounts of time and money bringing plants from all over the world back here. This has resulted in a spectacular diversity of plant life and colour which now makes up our gardens, we are indeed fortunate for this inheritance. For all his travels, having watched all of MD's programs, I wonder how/why his colour pallete is so dissapointingly small. I am constantly dismayed at his boring insistance with the"green & white" style and this disease has struck everywhere on TV - just check out how the Chelsea show gardens have gone ! Even Alan Titchmarsh joined in the green & white avalanche but just have a good long look at his own garden, it's a riot of colour and variety and that is what most of us want !! We have mainly green all winter long and our country side is mainly green. My god, the last thing we want all over the garden for the better months is more green !?!
Both Toby and Alys have excellent sound training and knowledge which the likes of part timers and dabblers like MD will never be able to match. It's the wrong call and for the wrong reasons, Toby should have had an hour for the program in order to develop styles and themes properly, he never even had a constant time. His treatment by the BBC has been unapreciative and shabby, we have lost out badly. How they can re-employ someone who left the programme in the lurch at such short notice is beyond me. Amazing wasn't it how his "illness" never affected his writing and other TV programms at the time. Perhaps that was part time also like his gardening !!
Toby was OK, but as others said, could be a little dull. Alys was, well, Alys.
Can't wait till it starts!