Alan Titchmarsh is highly quaified as a horticulturalist and gardener, is a skilled and experienced TV presenter and interviewer, is vice president of the RHS and has won gold at Chelsea. He has also just been appointed as the first ever ambassador of the RHS precisely because he has communication skills and makes gardening fun and is willing to meet and greet and promote gardening for everyone at every level.
The Chelsea Flower Show is, on a superficial level, about gardening bling but for those who look deeper it heralds trends in design and use of materials and showcases new plants and gives a platform for nurserymen and women to show new introductions from plant hunting and breeding as well as revive the popularity of older plants. The TV coverage has to cater for keen gardeners with all levels of expertise as well as celebrate British excellence and, with luck, inspire others to have a go, rather like after Wimbeldon there is an increase in tennis playing.
The RHS is more than just the big flower shows and needs this window of publicity to promote all the work it does and encourage more people to join up and contribute to our horticultral experience, heritage and future through its work in schools, in communities and in research and teaching.
Monty has no qualifications and, whilst he is a good amateur gardener and writes very well about it, his personal style is less warm and enthusing than AT's. He has also said and done things in his articles and on GW which inspire everything from wrath to dismay to disdain in professional horticultural circles.
Sophie Raworth is a professional, intelligent news reporter used to researching her topic and who has shown herself capable of presenting other formats and will, I'm sure, prove to be a vast improvement on Nikki C.
If this combo doesn't work and viewing figures go the way of GW's have I can see the RHS offering the TV coverage contract to other channels in future which would be a great pity.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
dove i'm with you re, d.g, my friend is a garden designer and met him she says he's v big headed i don't like him at all, liked a.t presenting , monty is my fave i love him, he's like my favourite uncle, unsure how it'll work but happy to watch anything he's on, he just makes me feel so chilled and happy!!
The format of the programmes means the presenter doesn't require a horticultural background. They're not required to discribe pruning, propagation, design techniques. That information can be sourced from the exhibitor.
"Monty has no qualifications and, whilst he is a good amateur gardener and writes very well about it, his personal style is less warm and enthusing than AT's. He has also said and done things in his articles and on GW which inspire everything from wrath to dismay to disdain in professional horticultural circles. "
I worked in professional horticulture for over 25 years as a garden desinger / gardener and I have to say , I never met one single professional , either garden designer, gardener, landscape architect or nurseryman who gave MD any credibility at all. I'm sorry to say. I cancelled my subscription to GW magazine when he came back.
I've heard , on too many occasions, him assert as fact, that which is only his opinion and also give advice which is factually inaccurate, e.g. plant bearded irises 6" deep, or plant roses with the graft union an inch above soil level.
I wonder if any of the approx 8,000,000 viewers of GW ever noted down his recipes for home made composts and make them??
His appeal seems to me to lie with " ladies of a certain age"
Well, on reading through this again, the poor old BeeB has no chance of getting it right! We are all different and we all have different ideas.
Must admit I do like Nikki Chapman, especially on Escape to the Country, she's so smiley, nice looking, but not smart and sophisticated. She also likes horses and so do I, not that that has anything to do with gardening (apart from manure!).
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
I have nothing against Nikki, or Sophie, my single criterion is , they should know what they're dealing with. I repeat my question " would they get presenters job on Match of the Day " or any other specialist knowledge programme, just because they're lovely people and pretty?
I reckon the best balance would be The Expert and The Average Gardener, so that one could answer the more "technical" questions and the other could be the one who asks them! I think I've said this before, but will repeat it anyway (!) - whatever's transmitted is almost always the version of what the producer thinks is best, rather than anyone else's ideas, so it's not fair- in my opinion - to lay the blame at the feet of whoever's in front of the camera.
Posts
Mike, I thought a hat was de rigeur at Chelsea?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Mike - brilliant suggestion - it should be Monty and Dove ...... It has the makings of a classic partnership .... A horticultural Morecambe and Wise
Chuckle
If he asks I'm all his 
(for horticultural purposes only)
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Alan Titchmarsh is highly quaified as a horticulturalist and gardener, is a skilled and experienced TV presenter and interviewer, is vice president of the RHS and has won gold at Chelsea. He has also just been appointed as the first ever ambassador of the RHS precisely because he has communication skills and makes gardening fun and is willing to meet and greet and promote gardening for everyone at every level.
The Chelsea Flower Show is, on a superficial level, about gardening bling but for those who look deeper it heralds trends in design and use of materials and showcases new plants and gives a platform for nurserymen and women to show new introductions from plant hunting and breeding as well as revive the popularity of older plants. The TV coverage has to cater for keen gardeners with all levels of expertise as well as celebrate British excellence and, with luck, inspire others to have a go, rather like after Wimbeldon there is an increase in tennis playing.
The RHS is more than just the big flower shows and needs this window of publicity to promote all the work it does and encourage more people to join up and contribute to our horticultral experience, heritage and future through its work in schools, in communities and in research and teaching.
Monty has no qualifications and, whilst he is a good amateur gardener and writes very well about it, his personal style is less warm and enthusing than AT's. He has also said and done things in his articles and on GW which inspire everything from wrath to dismay to disdain in professional horticultural circles.
Sophie Raworth is a professional, intelligent news reporter used to researching her topic and who has shown herself capable of presenting other formats and will, I'm sure, prove to be a vast improvement on Nikki C.
If this combo doesn't work and viewing figures go the way of GW's have I can see the RHS offering the TV coverage contract to other channels in future which would be a great pity.
dove i'm with you re, d.g, my friend is a garden designer and met him she says he's v big headed i don't like him at all, liked a.t presenting , monty is my fave i love him, he's like my favourite uncle, unsure how it'll work but happy to watch anything he's on, he just makes me feel so chilled and happy!!
The format of the programmes means the presenter doesn't require a horticultural background. They're not required to discribe pruning, propagation, design techniques. That information can be sourced from the exhibitor.
as Obelixx says
"Monty has no qualifications and, whilst he is a good amateur gardener and writes very well about it, his personal style is less warm and enthusing than AT's. He has also said and done things in his articles and on GW which inspire everything from wrath to dismay to disdain in professional horticultural circles. "
I worked in professional horticulture for over 25 years as a garden desinger / gardener and I have to say , I never met one single professional , either garden designer, gardener, landscape architect or nurseryman who gave MD any credibility at all. I'm sorry to say. I cancelled my subscription to GW magazine when he came back.
I've heard , on too many occasions, him assert as fact, that which is only his opinion and also give advice which is factually inaccurate, e.g. plant bearded irises 6" deep, or plant roses with the graft union an inch above soil level.
I wonder if any of the approx 8,000,000 viewers of GW ever noted down his recipes for home made composts and make them??
His appeal seems to me to lie with " ladies of a certain age"
Well, on reading through this again, the poor old BeeB has no chance of getting it right! We are all different and we all have different ideas.
Must admit I do like Nikki Chapman, especially on Escape to the Country, she's so smiley, nice looking, but not smart and sophisticated. She also likes horses and so do I, not that that has anything to do with gardening (apart from manure!).
I have nothing against Nikki, or Sophie, my single criterion is , they should know what they're dealing with. I repeat my question " would they get presenters job on Match of the Day " or any other specialist knowledge programme, just because they're lovely people and pretty?
I reckon the best balance would be The Expert and The Average Gardener, so that one could answer the more "technical" questions and the other could be the one who asks them! I think I've said this before, but will repeat it anyway (!) - whatever's transmitted is almost always the version of what the producer thinks is best, rather than anyone else's ideas, so it's not fair- in my opinion - to lay the blame at the feet of whoever's in front of the camera.