Hi, i think toby buckland is a very good choice, i loved watching him and Lisa davis (his wife), on garden magic he is very down to earth. good luck to him, liz
I think the BBC have been both sexist and ageist in not letting Carol Kleine carry on presenting Gardeners World. She has done a brilliant job with Jo and Alys since Monty Don left. She shows you how to fill your garden with cuttings and seeds and not spend vast amounts of money on plants like Monty did, which most of us cannot afford. I cannot comment on Tony as I do not know him very well, but I am very disappointed in the BBC not giving a woman the job.
Like some of the above i am also pleased that Toby has been chosen. Having seen his garden at Gardeners World live and some of his previous TV work i think he will relate well to people who garden on a smaller scale, as Alan and Geoff did with there gardens divided into smaller areas. Projects at Berryfields always seem to be on such a large scale that it is sometimes difficult to relate to (especially the long borders). Thanks to Carol, Joe and the wonderfull Alys (a real find of the future). Lets get behind the new team and wish them all well.
I'm sure Toby Buckland is aware of the expectations of the viewers! Let's withold judgement until we see him present a few programmes. Please may we continue to see Alys develop her calm, thoughtful role. Thank you for not appointing the irritating Ms Klein, dreadful and I'm sure phoney style.
My husband & I are SO disappointed that Carol was not chosen to be the lead presenter on Gardener's World. I know of Toby from reading his column in another magazine, and from telly spots- I do like him, but Carol is by far and away who we wanted to see in the job, especially seeing as she has been basically doing it anyway. We are considering not watching anymore... I definitely won't be buying the magazine anymore. I will buy the weekly paper where Carol writes a wonderful column,and where she seems to be appreciated!
I have my own opinions on who I would have liked to present GW and have enjoyed the shared approach which has been used since Monty was taken ill. However, whatever my preferences, I am aghast at the nasty and hurtful personal comments made by other people on this blog when expressing theirs. By all means tell us who you would prefer, but please bear in mind how you would feel if you had read some of these comments about yourselves. Let's face it, none of us is perfect and probably all have aspects of our personality which may annoy others. Shame on you! You know who you are! I don't think I'll bother to read comments in future. I'll stick to the plants!!
When Monty took over, he insisted on overalls and dirty hands and tried to "keep it real" but, in our opinion, it seemed that the production team got him tidied up and made the whole programme "slicker", dislocated from the viewing gardeners. Similarly Carol Klein started out as we knew her but she was increasingly "made over" and her natural enthusiasm was encouraged to the point of falseness. We find Alys's straight-forward instructive style is exactly what we need. Could the production team please take note? (Incidentally, we loved "The Big Dig")
The person best suited for the job should get it and only time will now tell. However, the trouble with this appointment is the lack of transparency. Was it done through open application with equal consideration for the experience and qualifications of all those who applied regardless of age and gender? If so, then people can only be considered if they applied. Can we know how many applied and how many were shortlisted with reference to males/females and age breakdown? Or, was it done through some sort of public poll? If it was the latter, where are the results as nobody seems to have been part of this poll?
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