Alan Titchmarsh hosted Ground Force with Charlie Dimmock and Tommy Walsh, and hinted that he might consider reuniting with one of the stars decades after the hit show ended
Beloved TV star Alan Titchmarsh has laid out his big plans for the future. Alan – who was recently awarded with a CBE – explained whether fans could hope to see his hit show Ground Force come back to their screens.
Alan, 75, has had a long showbiz career, but might be best known for his BBC series Ground Force, which he hosted alongside his green-fingered friends Charlie Dimmock and Tommy Walsh from 1997 until his exit in 2002. The show ran for 12 seasons, ending just three years after Alan’s departure and saw the crack team go to people’s homes to transform their subpar gardens into mini wonderlands.
Speaking about the odds of bringing Ground Force back, Alan shared “All three of us enjoyed doing it but it’s been 23 years since we did that.”
The Love Your Garden star added to Hello! that Ground Force was “of its time,” and said that he’d already done plenty of garden renovations now that he’s “getting on.”
“I’m still very fit and very spry but the prospect of lugging paving slabs around 75 is probably not a good idea,” Alan admitted.
In place of rejigging an old show, Alan is now beginning a whole new project – ditching TV and heading onto YouTube to reach even more ages and nationalities with his garden trips and tricks. “That was of its time but it’s lovely to have an opportunity with YouTube something fresh and new,” Alan said of his very modern move.
The former chat show host also explained that while he’s starting his YouTube as a solo host he might see about inviting guests such as Ground Force’s Charlie in the future for a long-awaited gardening reunion.
Describing his relationship with the female gardener, Alan shared: “We bump into each other every now and again, we’re very fond of one another.”
Last year, Alan reflected on the success of Ground Force during an appearance on James Martin’s Saturday Morning – and admitted that he thought it would be impossible to pull off the garden transformations. He said he didn’t initially like the idea of him and his team performing miracles in just 48 hours, explaining: “I wanted to make it accessible.
The star recalled: “I said this to the producer, when they said ‘We want you to do a garden makeup’, I said, ‘It can’t be done – it takes years to make a garden.’ They countered with, ‘Well, what if you had two days? I said, ‘That’s ridiculous.’ They retorted, ‘So you couldn’t do anything in two days?'”
While Ground Force was a major success and the hosting trio all ended up as family, the stars have admitted that their crazy deadlines did result in some tussles.
Tommy previously opened up about a heated exchange in 2000, during which usually mild-mannered Alan reportedly lost his patience while planting beds in a garden in Pitsea, Essex. While sawing timber, Tommy accidentally covered the flower beds in sawdust, leaving Alan fuming at his co-star.
“For a while it did get a bit hairy,” said Tommy. “But when we’d both calmed down we actually kissed – yes – and made up. What made me cross was that I was working flat out to get everything ready and here was Alan moaning about a bit of stray sawdust.”
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