Greatest Gardens with Diarmuid Gavin and Carol Klein
7:00 pm - 7:30 pm, Friday, April 10 on BBC Two England (2)
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About this Broadcast
Season 1, Episode 1
A search for Northern Ireland's finest gardens, with Diarmuid and Carol joined by guest judge Prue Leith for the first edition. They visit Fernhill Garden in Ballynahinch, Co Down, which is filled with more than 4,000 plants, before heading to Co Antrim for a suburban garden in Jordanstown and a six-acre farmhouse garden near Crumlin
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Gardening
Leisure Hobbies
Cast & Crew
Diarmuid Gavin
(Judge)
Carol Klein
(Judge)
Prue Leith
(Judge)
John FD Northover
(Series director)
Veronica Cunningham
(Series producer)
More Information
Did You Know..
Diarmuid Gavin
(Judge)
Born:
May 10, 1964
in
London
Best Known For:
Creating state-of-the-art designs using contoured concrete and shiny steel
Early-life:
Born May 10, 1964, in London, but was brought up in Rathfarnham, a suburb of Dublin, where he claims gardening wasn't taken seriously. He has an older brother and two younger sisters. Another brother, Conor, was killed in a car accident in 1968. He claims he was a dreamer at school and didn't work hard enough to get to university. Instead, Diarmuid trained in horticulture at the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin, and later set up his own garden design business.
Career:
Gavin's TV career took off after he designed a controversial garden for the Chelsea Flower Show. He made his presenting debut in 1999's The Answer Lies in the Soil and since then has hosted Home Front in the Garden, Real Rakeovers and Home Front Inside Out with Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. Gavin has also been voted TV's sexiest gardener by his legion of female fans. Shows such as Planet Patio, Planet Christmas and Diarmuid's Big Adventure have kept him in the public eye. He's also been a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing and Come Dine with Me, written books and newspaper columns, and hosted programmes in Ireland. He also took part in the first series of ITV's diving show Splash!
Quote:
'You don't have to be a plant expert to create or enjoy a garden.'
Trivia:
He appeared in a celebrity edition of The Chase and raised £2,666 for Wicklow Hospice Foundation.
Carol Klein
(Judge)
Best Known For:
Her appearances on all manner of gardening shows
Early-life:
Born in Walkden, Salford, Lancashire in 1945, Carol originally trained as an art teacher and taught in schools in the London area before moving to Devon. There she taught at North Devon College before setting up her own plant nursery, Glebe Cottage Plants.
Career:
She made her TV debut on Gardeners' World in 1989 and has since presented other gardening programmes such as Real Gardens and Open Gardens. Recent projects include Life in a Cottage Garden with Carol Klein which follows a year in the life of Carol's garden at Glebe Cottage in North Devon, and Grow Your Own Veg, which encouraged people to start growing their own vegetables. She is known for her cheerful presenting style and is hugely popular among gardeners.
Quote:
"I'll just do whatever I do better. I'll keep on keeping on. Anyway, it's just television, isn't it - it's not real life."
Trivia:
Klein's newspaper columns are highly regarded.
Prue Leith
(Judge)
Born:
February 18, 1940
in
Cape Town, South Africa
Best Known For:
Being a judge on The Great British Bake Off.
Early-life:
Born Prudence Margaret Leith in South Africa in 1940. Her mother, Margaret Inglis, was a successful actress and, according to Prue, the 'worst cook in the world'. Prue had a very happy childhood, although she has said that if she could give her teenage self one piece of advice, it would be to be more sensitive to the inequalities of apartheid-era South Africa. She left school with no real idea of what she wanted to do _ she toyed with becoming an actress, architect or an artist. It was only while studying in Paris to improve her French that she discovered her love of cooking and realised she wanted a career in food.
Career:
In 1960, Prue arrived in London to attend the Cordon Bleu Cookery School. She went on to launch her own catering business and restaurant, as well as a cookery school. She also became a successful food writer, with columns in many national papers, and penned novels as well as cook books. Prue didn't enjoy her first TV experience, which saw her hosting a personality magazine show, but in the personality she found success as a judge on BBC's Great British Menu. She left the show after 11 years, intending to retire, only to land her most high-profile TV job to date when she took over from her friend Mary Berry as a judge on The Great British Menu.
Quote:
"My very first book, Leigh's All-Party Cookbook, had the dedication, ‘For my mother, who can't cook for toffee, but gave marvellous parties anyway'. I wanted to make the point that food isn't the only thing that goes into a party - your friends have not come to judge you."
Trivia:
In July 2017, she was installed as the Chancellor of Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.
John FD Northover
(Series director)
Veronica Cunningham
(Series producer)
