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Monty Don
News that Monty Don will be returning to Gardeners' World has really got you talking! Hundreds have responded to my blog about the changing presenter line-up.
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Gardeners' World Web User
12/03/2011 at 22:41
RIP Gardeners World. Bring back Toby!
Gardeners' World Web User
13/03/2011 at 08:53
Well I knew I would miss Toby but thought I would watch the first programme and see how it went. OMG what a lacklustre event that was. I had grown fed up with all the magazine, media rejoicing about Montys return and I am already fed up with the programme. He was as dull as ever. Plodding tour of his small estate - it is not the domestic garden most of us deal with. It was just so boring. Thank God I had a pile of ironing to do while I watched - I loathe ironing but it was more interesting than his dreary droning on. I will give GW up until I hear that they have reinvented the programme and bring back Toby. What has happened to Greenacres? Can we claim it back and squat - after all our licence fees paid for it. Seems to me the people who should have gone were not Toby and Alys but the production team who messed this all up.They seem to respond to nothing do they think we will just forget? We are gardeners - we know every weed in our gardens (well almost) and will wait patiently for things to grow right in the end. Bring back a real gardener and give Toby a programme.I really can not start a weekend with the dull Monty.
Gardeners' World Web User
13/03/2011 at 09:28
I've not seen the new series but my wife who is top class gardener says the show with Monty is a hell of a lot better (no disrespect to the previous presenters) Well done P.s Message to the BBC Learn the lesson don't try to improve something thats already good (or if it ain't broke) Best wishes John Cox
Gardeners' World Web User
13/03/2011 at 10:12
It's really quite interesting to read the comments being written about GW. It appears that most people are giving opinions based purely upon their preference for a given presenter. I will admit that I did not watch much of the show after Toby and Alys began presenting as the format was apalling. I believe that this was largely down to the direction and the production team rather the skills or lack there of of the presenters. I have just watched Fridays episode of GW and found the return to a 'real' garden was exactly what the show needs. There were some very bad examples of horticultural practice such as the apple pruning but this was no worse than some of the techniques utilised by Alys in the past. I have never seen anyone sow seeds as badly and this is a gardening fundamental. I think Monty should have explained current pruning practice with ridge and collar and the science behind it. All of the sniping about the grandiose nature of Montys garden is incredibly myopic. The garden is divided into very small areas which are comparable to most domestic spaces. Let us not forget that this was what Geoff Hamiltons garden was also like and yet fans of his are beating Monty with this very same stick. If people are unable to relate ideas to different spaces then would anyone visit large gardens or RHS shows? If the BBC up their game with regard to best horticultural practice I think the show is going in the right direction.
Gardeners' World Web User
13/03/2011 at 18:46
I agree, most people seem to be basing their opinions on their preference for one presenter or another. But, with apologies for stating the obvious, surely it is the presenter who makes or breaks the programme? When Toby Buckland was presenting most weeks I was inspired to try out some of the techniques or ideas he gave. He explained things in an accessible way. I was not inspired by Monty Don. I have nothing against him - I used to enjoy the weekly article he wrote for the Observer a few years ago - but he is not an engaging presenter. As for Joe Swift and Rachel De Thame, their short appearance was a waste of time and did not make use of their abilities. I agree that the show benefits from having a 'real' garden, but it was also benefit from a more engaging lead presenter.
Gardeners' World Web User
13/03/2011 at 20:11
The lead presenter can make or break the program but I was just trying to point out that most of the comments on this thread ignored any other points that relate to the quality of the show. The content was often dismissed if the presenter didn't conform to what the viewer seemed to consider appropriate as a lead presenter. This is a great shame. I enjoyed the program when Alan Titchmarsh presented and he was very enthuisiastic but I know that many of my colleagues were turned off by his presence. It is content, correct horticultural practice and education that we should be demanding from the BBC whomever the presenter may be. From my limited viewing of the previous incarnation of GW this was sadly lacking.
Gardeners' World Web User
13/03/2011 at 22:34
The only good part of the show was Carol at Anglsey Abbey,the rest was like watching paint dry.Bring back TOBY.
Gardeners' World Web User
14/03/2011 at 00:51
I preferred the previous format. i thought thaat monty don had walked out on GW in the past, so why is he back?. He is a boring presenter and this blue workmans jacket image .. yuk!!
Gardeners' World Web User
15/03/2011 at 13:26
Bring back Toby! I hope he gets a programme on C4 or something. Then a truly new inspired format can be created, anyone over 80 can stick to BBC the rest of us can go somewhere else.
Gardeners' World Web User
16/03/2011 at 16:47
Welcome back Monty,I knew you recover from your health problems and be back on our screens in Gardeners World, which has not been the same without you I might add and you have got the old gang together as well,so welcome back Joe,Carol,Rachel.Well done.
Gardeners' World Web User
17/03/2011 at 10:08
Thank God Monty Don is back only watched last night had it taped it was a breath of fresh air had stopped watching gardeners world a few years ago looking forward to the next one can only get better
Gardeners' World Web User
18/03/2011 at 21:52
I am a younger viewer (18) and am absolutely delighted that Monty is back! I find him much more interesting and informative than Toby. I am also delighted that the program is set in a real garden (and how very beautiful it is to) as it is so much easier to get ideas from. I stopped watching the last series as it was highly patronising and I could not stand the way it was presented. I wish the team the best of luck for what I am sure will be a highly successful gardening year.
Gardeners' World Web User
18/03/2011 at 22:10
Hurrah Rachel is back! The bad news is Gardeners World is again dominated by the dull lecturing of Monty Don. Not sure I will watch again. Carol is a gardener, Toby is a gardener, Joe is a talented garden designer who makes no pretence of being a gardener.And right back to Alan Titchmarsh, you respect them...but I am sorry Monty , I am sure you are are a decent chap but I always sense it is the Monty Don show and not a gardening show. bring back Toby, bring back Alan, Bring back Alys, or even Geoff Hamilton he'd be better even now!) but Monty please no!
Gardeners' World Web User
18/03/2011 at 23:12
I liked the programme much better with Toby Buckland and Alys Fowler. I liked the less formal approach.
Gardeners' World Web User
19/03/2011 at 12:23
I for one will miss Toby and Alys because I felt that they spoke to the viewers in a straight forward and honest way. Where as when Monty was presenting the show, I felt that he spoke down to the viewers more as a school teacher telling the class what they will do. Where as Toby spoke like a friend passing on tips for good gardening.
Gardeners' World Web User
19/03/2011 at 13:35
So glad Monty Don is back. Most gardeners are lacking formal training,so what's the problem so many of you seem to have with Monty Don not having a horticultural qualification? Did Vita Sackville West or Gertrude Jekyll have such credentials, yet gardeners like them continue to inspire even now and will continue to do so. I sympathise with Toby and Alys, but the format was so dumbed down and irritating, which I'm sure was not their fault, but I for one am delighted to have Monty back. I love his style and enthusiasm and wish him and his team all the best.
Gardeners' World Web User
19/03/2011 at 23:01
I have tried the new GW twice and I will not be back for a third view. Simply awful. It is like being at a pets funeral -very sad and best avoided. Toby was enlivening and informative - let him do the programme again properly. Monty does not have that much good knowledge to impart and he just drones on and on until I am overcome with boredom. Carol is a real spark of life but I will not be watching again.
Gardeners' World Web User
20/03/2011 at 15:25
What a shock on Friday evening to find Toby and Alice had been sacked, and, to make matters worse, replaced by the oleaginous Monty Don. Toby was undoubtedly the first true heir of the great Geoff Hamilton -- clearly interested more in gardening and the impartation of techniques and skill than in himself. Don is in it for the money. He lacks the ordinary touch, and appeals to people who like to be patronised, who feel uncomfortable if treated as intellectual equals. I can only conclude Don is friendly with a chum on the BBC side whom he knows from his rich upbringing. PS: bet Don cannot resist pluging his new book!
Gardeners' World Web User
20/03/2011 at 18:18
I took over my second allotment today and asked the secretary of the Society what he thought of Monty Don. " I wouldn't like to say" so I pressed him and he said " the man is a total fraud" This from a man who has been in professional horticulture for over 40 years.Last week's programme showed he hasn't looked after his apple trees, this week's showed he hasn't looked after his currants. Coming from one's own garden is a double edged sword. What horrors await us next Friday?
Gardeners' World Web User
24/03/2011 at 12:53
What do we think of the new gardeners' world?? Seemed alittle dummed down, funny heard that before! I like monty but the series now seems to have lost a little spark, nothing against Monty as I think his agrden is cool, prehaps he should have had his own programme..maybe the Jewel garden :). The BBC have to put Toby on his own show some how to please everyone, with Alan Titchmarsh now on ITV in june on the same night as GW, with his own gardening programme. How will this effect GW?
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