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Ground Force is a British garden makeover television series originally broadcast by the BBC between 1997 and 2005. The series was originally hosted by Alan Titchmarsh, Charlie Dimmock and Tommy Walsh and was produced by Endemol for the BBC.

Production

The series was created by Peter Bazalgette^[1] and was first broadcast on 19 September 1997 on BBC Two. In each episode, a team of gardeners makeover the garden of an individual who has been nominated by a member of their family or a friend. Whilst that individual is away, the team, assisted by friends and family, makeover the garden over two days, and surprise the individual on their return. The team was lead by Alan Titchmarsh, presenter of Pebble Mill at One and Gardeners' World, gardener Charlie Dimmock, builder Tommy Walsh and his assistant Will Shanahan. Dimmock met the producer/director of the series five years previously when she built a pond for the Meridian series, Grass Roots,^[2] and she became known for not wearing a bra.^[3] Walsh was invited to take part after completing work on the executive producer's garden.^[4] The theme music for the series was performed by the Black Dyke Band.^[5]

The series moved to BBC One for the second series.^[6] Titchmarsh left in 2002, saying that he felt the series was becoming repetitive and because he wasn't able to work with materials like stainless steel and do intricate brickwork patterns due to time and money constraints.^[7] Kirsty King joined the team after Titchmarsh left.

A number of new five-minute segments were filmed for Ground Force Revisited and appended onto repeats of earlier episodes, where Dimmock and Walsh revisited the garden concerned to surprise the owners and see how the gardens had developed.

The series was credited with helping the increase in sales of garden decking in the late 1990s and early 2000s due to its usage during the series. Retailer B&Q had sales rise from £5,000 in 1997 to £16m in 2001.^[8] In an interview in the Daily Mail, Titchmarsh said: "I am partly to blame for the decking boom, and I am sorry, I know it's everywhere these days."^[7]

The series was cancelled in 2005. Describing its cancellation, BBC Director-General Mark Thompson said that the series was "reaching the end of its natural life" and that "the public do get very cross when they see the BBC flogging a dead horse".^[6][9]

At its peak, the series attracted 12 million viewers.^[10] Repeats of Ground Force are currently shown on Home.

Specials

Jill's Garden in Weston-super-Mare, built by the team in memory of Jill Dando

The team worked on a number of other special projects, including:

• a garden in memory of TV presenter Jill Dando in her home town of Weston-super-Mare^[11]
• the New York Restoration Project garden near Ground Zero in New York^[12]
• an Old Servicemen's Home garden in Jamaica
• a Children's Home garden in New Delhi, India
• the home of former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela^[13]

The Africa Garden at the British Museum

The Ground Force team's final episode was aired in July 2005. It took place in the forecourt of the British Museum in London, where the team designed and created the Africa Garden as part of the Africa 05 celebration,^[14] the biggest celebration of African culture organised in the UK. The design of the garden features temperate, tropical and desert zones.

International versions

Ground Force America is the American version, presented by Dimmock and Walsh. It began airing in 2003 on BBC America, and it was the channels first original production. The channel had been airing the UK version since 1999.^[15]

It was revealed in 2000 that the producers were seeking legal advice after they accused the Nine Network in Australia of producing a "carbon copy" of Ground Force entitled Backyard Blitz. A legitimate Australian version of Ground Force was aired shortly after by the Seven Network.^[10]

Top Ground Gear Force

On 14 March 2008, Top Gear "resurrected" Ground Force in a Sport Relief special called Top Ground Gear Force where the presenters of Top Gear conducted a Ground Force style show on Sir Steve Redgrave's garden.^[16]

Episodes

Nearly 100 episodes were produced and shown:

• Series 1: 8 editions from 19 September 1997 - 7 November 1997
• Series 2: 12 editions from 30 June 1998 - 1 October 1998
• Series 3: 4 editions from 12 February 1999 - 5 March 1999
• Series 4: 6 editions from 15 October 1999 - 19 November 1999
• Series 5: 6 editions from 10 March 2000 - 14 April 2000
• Series 6: 5 editions from 6 October 2000 - 26 November 2000
• Series 7: 5 editions from 22 April 2001 - 27 May 2001
• Series 8: 6 editions from 7 January 2002 - 18 February 2002
• Series 9: 4 editions from 2 September 2002 - 23 September 2002
• Series 10: 6 editions from 27 January 2003 - 13 March 2003
• Series 11a: 7 editions from 1 March 2004 - 23 June 2004
• Series 11b: 5 editions from 6 December 2004 - 17 January 2005
• Series 12: 8 editions from 24 January 2005 - 21 March 2005

Specials

• Mandella Special: 2 January 2000
• When Changing Rooms Met Ground Force: 12 February 2000
• When Changing Rooms Met Ground Force 2: 24 October 2000
• RAF Special: 11 December 2000
• India Special: 18 April 2001
• A Garden for Jill Dando: 24 August 2001
• Goes West Indies: 3 March 2002
• Goes South Atlantic: Falklands: 16 June 2002
• New York: 25 August 2002
• The Italian Job: 5 December 2002
• Goes Festive: 25 December 2002
• Does Mardi Gras: 21 April 2003
• Ground Force America: 7 editions from 21 July 2003 - 8 September 2003
• Goes to Ethiopia: 29 December 2003
• Ground Force America 2: 5 editions from 5 July 2004 - 2 August 2004
• On the Road to Marrakech: 29 December 2004
• A Garden for Africa '05 : 24 July 2005

References

External links

• Ground Force at the National Film and Sound Archive
• Ground Force Africa Garden
• Ground Force broadcast information
• Ground Force at the Internet Movie Database