The BBC announced this afternoon that Monty Don will be returning to GW next spring. Toby Buckland’s contract hasn’t been renewed. More surprisingly, Alys Fowler is leaving too. Monty Don returns to GW

The programme was becoming dull and lightweight and something needed to change. The Greenacre site was a bigger problem than Toby, I thought. But you need presence to lead a top BBC programme these days and Toby never quite nailed it. Monty has that presence in spades, plus a string of beautiful and earnest publications to his name. I like and admire him as a gardener. He was a worthy lead presenter and no doubt will be one again. But…

I don’t think programmes should go back. Actually, I think going back is, in general a bad thing. And the BEEB have not only dropped Toby, they’ve dropped Alys Fowler too. Alys wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea with her home-made plant pots and pernicious weed soup. But she was new and different and quirky and fresh. Instead, Rachel de Thame, the lovely and beautiful natured Rachel, has been restored to the programme. I met Rachel when we filmed GOTD in September 2008. She is a superbly professional presenter and a much more knowledgeable gardener than she is given credit for. But, like Joe and Carol, she’s been part of the GW team for many years. So when the programme returns in spring, all of the recent past will have been erased and we will be back in 2003. The programme had problems and something needed to be done. But I don’t think going back 7 years is the way into the future. Alys especially is the baby being thrown out with the bathwater.

So how will Monty get on? The world has changed, even in the three years that Monty has been gone. People still want to garden and they want help to do it. But they have even less time than before and need it to be easy. They need to be allowed to shop in garden centres – those places most people associate with gardening – places Monty hasn’t visited for 10 years. Will Monty let newbies have some quick fixes – will he allow Tomorite and Ferric phosphate slug pellets? Or will it be home made comfrey feed and nightly salt hunts for slugs? If the BBC want to get back to 4million viewers I think GW needs an easy-going, compromising Delia or a Jamie, not a Gordon or a Heston. This would provide a platform programme from which interesting, more specialist angles can be developed in additional, perhaps out of season extras.

I wonder how long it will be before the familiar accusations of elitism and remoteness rise again. Fingers crossed for you Monty. Hope the skin’s a bit thicker and the blood pressure is firmly under control.

Addendum: Just a note that the BBC can hardly be accused of ageism at GW with their new team. Joe is the youngest at 45. Rachel is the same age as me (just a smidgeon over 45…) Monty is 55, as per the press release and Carol is ageless.

December 7, 2010  
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