Carol is very good - knowledgeable, warm and enthusiastic - but as a middle-aged woman with a regional accent she was always going to be passed over. I've nothing against Toby but the BBC should be looking to be more inclusive.
Must say I thought the first program with Toby (whoever he is) was a bit flat.When Carol took over from Monty for an inital six weeks I thouht (like many others it seems) that she was being groomed for the job. So I am very suprised she was not even consider for the job since here love and enthusiasm for all things gardening leaps from the screen at you. Chris would also have been a good choice -great presenter with a good sense of humour. Perhaps in time however?
My two choices for new presenter were Carol or Toby, but after having just watched tonights show (19/9/08), I found it very boring. The '70s style gardening from Shropshire (old fashioned) and the awful camera shots drove me mad. Please somebody give Carol her own programme, or at the very least update the present Gardeners World before people turn off altogether.
I'm amazed how people can assume Carol wasn't even considered for the job or that it was sexism that meant she didn't get it. Couldn't it be either that she didn't want it or that the powers-that-be thought she wasn't the best person for the job?
Anyway, the proof of the pudding is in the viewing, and for me Toby is doing a fine job. I do miss Monty who, to me, epitomised the best of GW, but Toby is a more than worthy successor and not a bad choice at all, though I would have been equally happy with Chris Beardshaw or Rachel de Thame in the driving seat. Shame they're no longer regulars on the programme.
Interesting that someone should comment earlier in this thread that they look forward to Toby continuing with the environmental theme, and others saying we should all give Toby a chance. Yes, we should. But a chance to change the direction of the show entirely - ? Did anyone else see the Daily Telegraph article where he encourages amateur gardeners to buy plants instead of growing their own, and to use chemicals?! This is not an attack on Toby, but a serious point about editorial control - in this day and age, did the BBC's audience research work indicate that THIS was what the GW audience really wanted?!
Well fishy6969, Toby has certainly 'surprised many' this week with his comments in the press. As for him being 'in the Geoff Hamilton model' his comments on pesticides and peat show that he couldn't be further from Geoff and his ethos if he tried. Geoff was ahead of his time when he tried to encourage gardeners to work with nature and respect the environment. Now, just when people are beginning to realise how right he was, along comes Toby Buckland with his anachronistic views to undermine all the progress that Geoff and subsequent presenters have made.
Every time there's a new GW presenter he's greeted with a degree of hostility. My mother-in-law still only recognises Geoff as the proper GW presenter. When he sadly left us it was Alan who got it in the neck. Likewise Monty. I don't normally get teary eyed but Alan's departure was an end of an era for me. I had a love-hate relationship with Monty on GW but loved dearly his work and ethic outside of the programme.
For me I think Toby will be a great presenter even if I'm surprised they still went down the main presenter route and not give Carol and Joe equal billing. For my money it should have been the Beardshaw.
Sadly, I found GW with the new presenter to be trite and staged in equal measure. Felt that Carol and Joe had been scripted to show off the new lead man! Poor choice of someone I had never heard of, prepared to be open to, but ultimately felt he was far short of the mark.
It was a bad move to have appointed a new presenter for GW that seems to have been based largely on his Hamilton-appeal. I held up my hands in despair at the feature on tedious and water-hungry displays of bedding plants? BBC it seems you're looking backwards and playing it safe, maybe because times are hard.
Shame on you BBC - the exciting and really different option should have been (and judging by these comments - popularly so) Carol Klein.
I feel the format of gardeners world is lacking. Picking apples from a tree while talking about 'step oversâ, I know what they are but do any novice gardeners watching know? Can't the BBC introduce some garden design themes in to program, not just heres a plant, heres a hole to put it in. Geoff programmes were so much more interesting. And poor Carole, she barely had a three minute slot.
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Anyway, the proof of the pudding is in the viewing, and for me Toby is doing a fine job. I do miss Monty who, to me, epitomised the best of GW, but Toby is a more than worthy successor and not a bad choice at all, though I would have been equally happy with Chris Beardshaw or Rachel de Thame in the driving seat. Shame they're no longer regulars on the programme.
For me I think Toby will be a great presenter even if I'm surprised they still went down the main presenter route and not give Carol and Joe equal billing. For my money it should have been the Beardshaw.
Shame on you BBC - the exciting and really different option should have been (and judging by these comments - popularly so) Carol Klein.