The best gardening TV programmes in 2015

26th December 2014

Next year looks like being a record one for gardening television, at least in quantity, with up to a dozen series planned. Four series will begin in the first week of January – quite a novel move, given that few gardeners are active outdoors. Apparently the trend is led by increasing use of catch-up TV, meaning viewers might watch repeats when the gardening season actually starts.

Meanwhile, garden makeovers are well and truly back, as are competitions, prompted by the success of The Great British Bake Off.

For broadcast on Christmas Day and December 28, Alan Titchmarsh kicks things off on ITV1 with The Queen’s Garden, presented in two one-hour programmes.

Then, on January 2 at 9pm on BBC Two, The Big Allotment Challenge starts a second series. The six-part first series attracted an average audience of 1.9 million, with contestants Alex Lomax and Ed Bond winning the prize.

Audiences for The Bake Off-inspired grow, cook and flower arranging competition dipped from 2.77 million after the first showing in April 2014. Twitter grumblers moaned about a lack of solid horticulture advice, so chief judge Jim Buttress will give more grow-your-own tips this time around. Contestants will compete singly rather than in pairs this season.

Meanwhile, also on January 2, Sky TV is going into gardening with Show Me Your Garden, a six-part series airing on Sky 1 HD weekly at 8pm. Three gardeners from six locations are “out to prove that they have the best garden in town”. Actress Alison Steadman narrates.

From January 5 at 7pm the Great British Garden Revival is back, with a second 10-part series airing on BBC Two. Series one won a Garden Media Guild award for Rachel de Thame and James Wong’s reports on topiary and roof gardens, which attracted 1.49 million viewers.