If you understand the BBC's "contemporary" mindset, you can explain away the changes to any once loved programme format.
Everything's about "ratings" so many such programmes now have to include elements (often with a tenuous connection with the topic) that will "engage" a wider audience.
The "One size fits all" policy means that we end up with a lot of "programmes for dummies."
Some papers reporting that the Beeb's first choice was for Alan Titsmarsh to return.
I gather his reply was short and to the point!
When he was presenter the Mrs and I always watched the programme-after he left the programme progresively lost its way and viewers with it.
Why on earth the Beeb thaught Toby Buckland would be a success is beyond me-there was no comparison between Alan or Monty.
Seems the format is to return to the one used by Alan so successively i.e working on his own patch with no 'gimmiks' or puirile competitions etc.
In case none of you have noticed it, Yesterday (Freeview 12) is showing The Wartime Kitchen and Garden all this week. Harry Dodson was always a great character and I loved all the shows he featured in. This series was not as good as the original Victorian Kitchen Garden but still great nonetheless and is a lovely gentle programme in a style we'll probably never see again.
Don't worry if you have missed any, thay are all being repeated on Saturday and again on Sunday. Set your recorders now.
Ian.
Thanks for that. I didn't know they were on, but I'll look forward to seeing them at weekend. Love them.
Re GW. I'm afraid I'm not a big Monty Don fan. Why can't Carol be main presenter? Or Christine thingy (forgot her name, she had her own show a while back)? She seems very knowledgeable.
The only thing this programme in it's "ratings chasing new style" didn't have was; "plant-offs" and phone votes.
To think the BBC pay a few idiots hundreds of thousands a year to come up with this rubbish and the likes of the cringe-making new "Watchdog" format.
As a licence payer I'm not interested in "ratings chases," I just want better quality programmes, whether I choose to watch them doesn't matter, as I'm paying for them.
Rubbish as usual from you, if it really was all about ratings then Gardener's world wouldn't be made at all.
Programmes like Gardeners' World are what we pay the licence fee for. The BBC have a service to duty such programming, regardless of the size of audience.
Programmes like Gardeners' World are what we pay the licence fee for. The BBC have a service to duty such programming, regardless of the size of audience.
If not, the BBC would be just another ITV1.
The trouble is, the BBC won't now dedicate many of these programmes just to those who are really interested. They think "getting technical" won't appeal to other viewers, so they try to widen the appeal to "engage the marginally interested," so the true gardeners will think it has been dumbed down;
In business, we'd call this practice "****ing in the soup."
I'm always reminded, of a ditty with a lot of alliteration, about a Dutch sea captain and his cargo of sacks of rice contaminated with mouse shit. His argument was, that if he had to have the mouse shit, why couldn't they put it all in one sack?
My worry is that the BBC see the success of Countryfile and Antiques Roadshow and think 'why can't Gardeners' World be like those, too?'.
If the BBC want a 'catch-all' gardening show then they should commission a totally new show. There is definitely room for one, but GW should be left as it was under Hamilton.
Programmes like Gardeners' World are what we pay the licence fee for. The BBC have a service to duty such programming, regardless of the size of audience.
For now........I'd bet that cancelling the show has been discussed once or twice.
Well i haven't heard anything from the media grapevine, but i'll - if you pardon the pun - do a little DIGGING and come back to you if anything comes up!:D
Please can we have an hour...it barely gets going and then its gone !
Oh and please no posh types ....
I remember the woman who won "amateur gardener Of the year", think it was last summer.... did you see that pad ?
Looked like she owned a bloody mansion and the garden was the size of Sussex
"so wonderful darlin"
Maybe we could have a level laying field if they run that again !
I learnt virtually all my gardening from Geoff Hamilton. He was wonderful - basic stuff like when and how to dig your veg patch, when to plant basic plants and then also slightly off the wall plantings.
With the huge increase in demand for allotments and fruit and veg growing in general, I am sure there must a an equal increase in people wanting to know how to do the basic things as well as people trying to find new ideas for their gardens.
I stopped watching the current set of presenters a long time ago. Carol Klein is actually a good gardener, but came across as rather ineffectual and fluffy. Shame.
Anyway, i hope the BBC rediscovers some of its mojo. Most of their programmes are now ratings chasers rather than anyway near informative enough.
Mind you, they can't win, can they? If they put out intelligent programmes that only a few people watched, they would then be accused of wasting tax payers money!
If the BBC were going to get rid of anyone on GW it should have been Joe Swift. I really hate garden design- I don't like being told about the rules of rhythm or line or any of that bolltwaddle. I'd rather just plant things where I think they look good.
If the BBC were going to get rid of anyone on GW it should have been Joe Swift. I really hate garden design- I don't like being told about the rules of rhythm or line or any of that bolltwaddle. I'd rather just plant things where I think they look good.
"I'm reliably informed" that shares in concrete manufacturing companies took a dive, when Diarmuid Gavin left the programme.
Some papers reporting that the Beeb's first choice was for Alan Titsmarsh to return.
I gather his reply was short and to the point!
When he was presenter the Mrs and I always watched the programme-after he left the programme progresively lost its way and viewers with it.
Why on earth the Beeb thaught Toby Buckland would be a success is beyond me-there was no comparison between Alan or Monty.
Seems the format is to return to the one used by Alan so successively i.e working on his own patch with no 'gimmiks' or puirile competitions etc.
I don't agree about AT. I found his style very basic and at times very patronising -. "Now here's a trowel. We dig a hole in the soil with the trowel, then put the plant in it. Then we put the soil back around the plant".
The BBC have released a bit more information on Carol's new series.
In this new series Carol Klein shares with us a year in her garden at Glebe Cottage in north Devon. Carol has looked after her garden for over thirty years and each year brings with it its own rewards and delights, as well as problems and challenges. Follow Carol as her garden grows, flourishes, dies and is reborn.
The first episode covers January and February. The frosts have not yet released their grip on the garden and the devastation of a hard winter is scattered all around. There is much to do; cutting back, preparing the soil and garlic planting. The first green shoots of the year begin to appear, as drifts of snowdrops carpet the woodland floor and hellebores reveal their ravishing colours. A local woodsman joins Carol to lay a native hedge. Slowly the first signs of spring appear.
Comments
Everything's about "ratings" so many such programmes now have to include elements (often with a tenuous connection with the topic) that will "engage" a wider audience.
The "One size fits all" policy means that we end up with a lot of "programmes for dummies."
I gather his reply was short and to the point!
When he was presenter the Mrs and I always watched the programme-after he left the programme progresively lost its way and viewers with it.
Why on earth the Beeb thaught Toby Buckland would be a success is beyond me-there was no comparison between Alan or Monty.
Seems the format is to return to the one used by Alan so successively i.e working on his own patch with no 'gimmiks' or puirile competitions etc.
Thanks for that. I didn't know they were on, but I'll look forward to seeing them at weekend. Love them.
Re GW. I'm afraid I'm not a big Monty Don fan. Why can't Carol be main presenter? Or Christine thingy (forgot her name, she had her own show a while back)? She seems very knowledgeable.
Rubbish as usual from you, if it really was all about ratings then Gardener's world wouldn't be made at all.
Yes indeed.
If not, the BBC would be just another ITV1.
The trouble is, the BBC won't now dedicate many of these programmes just to those who are really interested. They think "getting technical" won't appeal to other viewers, so they try to widen the appeal to "engage the marginally interested," so the true gardeners will think it has been dumbed down;
In business, we'd call this practice "****ing in the soup."
I'm always reminded, of a ditty with a lot of alliteration, about a Dutch sea captain and his cargo of sacks of rice contaminated with mouse shit. His argument was, that if he had to have the mouse shit, why couldn't they put it all in one sack?
My worry is that the BBC see the success of Countryfile and Antiques Roadshow and think 'why can't Gardeners' World be like those, too?'.
If the BBC want a 'catch-all' gardening show then they should commission a totally new show. There is definitely room for one, but GW should be left as it was under Hamilton.
And that's exactly what they are doing!:)
Well i haven't heard anything from the media grapevine, but i'll - if you pardon the pun - do a little DIGGING and come back to you if anything comes up!:D
Oh and please no posh types ....
I remember the woman who won "amateur gardener Of the year", think it was last summer.... did you see that pad ?
Looked like she owned a bloody mansion and the garden was the size of Sussex
"so wonderful darlin"
Maybe we could have a level laying field if they run that again !
With the huge increase in demand for allotments and fruit and veg growing in general, I am sure there must a an equal increase in people wanting to know how to do the basic things as well as people trying to find new ideas for their gardens.
I stopped watching the current set of presenters a long time ago. Carol Klein is actually a good gardener, but came across as rather ineffectual and fluffy. Shame.
Anyway, i hope the BBC rediscovers some of its mojo. Most of their programmes are now ratings chasers rather than anyway near informative enough.
Mind you, they can't win, can they? If they put out intelligent programmes that only a few people watched, they would then be accused of wasting tax payers money!
Yes and I guess, so did "The Perennial Plant Potter" (Titchmarsh) and when Jeff died, the lucky so and so got his job.
Geoff was the "real deal."
"I'm reliably informed" that shares in concrete manufacturing companies took a dive, when Diarmuid Gavin left the programme.
It is not a landscaping programme......it should be about the plants!
Or both perhaps.....:)
Purleeaaze! Monty was a huge improvement.