Monty's Return

[Cider Boys]

Some may be pleased, yet some may not, that Monty Don is to make a return to Gardeners' World as a presenter from his own garden.

Some say that you can't keep a good man down!

Barney

[John]

I feel really sorry for Toby B caught up in a silly attempt to win younger viewers by dumbing everything down. Toby is a skilled gardener and I hope he will be able to move on from this and find success elsewhere.
If anyone had to be moved it should have been the producers/editors for the programme.

John

[glallotments]

I'n afraid I'm not a Monty Don fan!

[Diane]

I shall be sorry to see Toby go, too. He was a pleasant chap, easy to listen to with good sound advice. Unlike some other presenters he had no great ego to feed either - he just seemed to be a very nice man.

Not too keen on Joe Swift though.

However, I'm glad Monty Don is coming back and wish him well.

[Arnie]

Looks like GW will not on my TV for the foreseeable future ? I find Monty Don so irritating

Kevin

[Elle's Garden]

I have no real view re Toby Vs Monty (more of an Alan Titmarsh fan myself) , but I do wonder what is going to happen to that enormous garden and greenhouse that they have spend the last 2 years getting usable if Monty is presenting from his own garden?

[PLUMPUDDING]

I was wondering the same as Elle - what is the point of setting up the very expensive greenhouse and structure of the garden and then abandoning it. The whole point of gardening is to see things develop, and the programme had settled down to sensible gardening again with knowledgeable gardeners doing the presenting.

Why does the BBC think we need or want a "personality" to tell us about gardening, and I personally don't give a stuff what Mr. Don has in his garden and resent my TV licence money going to fund it.

[Primrose]

I do wonder what is going to happen to that enormous garden and greenhouse that they have spend the last 2 years getting usable if Monty is presenting from his own garden?

Well, I don't suppose the BBC care much about the wasted money. After all it's taxpayers' money which funds the licence. What I'd like to see is a little more transparency and accountability. But who is going to stand up at the start of the new Gardenrs World series and give the viewers an account of what has happened to that piece of land? Perhaps they're just going to let it go to rack and ruin, so that if Monty Don doesn't work out, they can go back with another presenter and develop a new programme on how to clear a patch of of overgrown land and cultivate it into an allotment.

[madasafish]

I suspect the BBC bosses despise gardeners.. On their huge salaries, they probably employ them - not as presenters but to do their own gardens..

I say that with no shred of proof but the evidence of a program obviously directed by people who have zero feel or enthusiasm for gardening ( as a contast see Autumn and Springwatch where the enthusiasm shines through).

Will not waste my time watching until I see cries of "you missed a superb program...."

No sign of that anytime soon.

As for wasting money, that's what the BBC do all the time. Why be surprised?

[Elle's Garden]

It must be very sad for the gardeners involved (Toby & co) to know that all those plants will soon be untended.

I would very much like to see someone stand up and explain Primrose and stop pretending that all the viewers at home are so completely ill informed that they will have no idea what has gone on.

[Johnboy]

This will be a truly retrograde step but who else other than the BBC could even consider such a move. Monty Don is only good with gardening whilst he can read an autocue apart from that he is a total waste of space where gardening matters are concerned.
I long ago gave up watching any gardening programme produced by the BBC because they simply make me so cross when I watched them and I gathered absolutely no enjoyment from them whatsoever.
It is not the presenters that want changing it is those who produce the programmes that want the boot.
Poor Toby Buckland is worthy of so much more and I feel he has been made to perform to their parameters and to toe the line and not be himself.
JB.

[richward]

Feel sorry for Toby Buckland, but that's television for you. I'm sure he'll survive. Interesting article about it in the latest Garden News. Seems Alys Fowler is quite happy to say goodbye. I'm still haunted by the item the pair did on making a garden roof on top of rabbit hutches. It did nothing but make Alys Fowler look like a silly girlie who had no idea what she was doing.

As for Monty, I think he's a good presenter, who at least might have the clout to say, 'No I'm not doing that.' Something that I think Toby Buckland should have done on more than one occasion.

[Shallot Man]

I would rather watch the repeats of "Clacks Farm" now that was for gardeners. Merry Xmas to you all.

[glallotments]

Am I one of the few who didn't really like Alys. To begin with I thought she was good but she seemed to change as she became a more prominent part of the team.

[Johnboy]

Hi Shallot Man,
How about "Muck and Magic." This one gets my all time vote.
JB.