Rahul Sharma (Editor)

The Beechgrove Garden

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Producer(s)
  
BBC

Original release
  
14 April 1978

Genre
  
Special Interest

Running time
  
29 minutes

First episode date
  
14 April 1978

Networks
  
BBC Two, BBC One Scotland

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Original network
  
BBC Two BBC One Scotland

Similar
  
Gardeners' World, BBC Scotland Investigates, Scotch and Wry, Love Your Garden, Landward

25 years of the beechgrove garden 3 3


The Beechgrove Garden is a television programme broadcast since 1978 on BBC Scotland, over the years it has been broadcast on both BBC One Scotland and BBC Two Scotland.

Contents

25 years of the beechgrove garden 1 3


History

The Beechgrove Garden is a gardening programme, which started on 14 April 1978. The original plot of land used was the small area of garden attached to the BBC studios in Beechgrove Terrace, Aberdeen. Due to its small size, the programme's popularity and the fact the garden had been transformed several times over, a new area of ground to the west of Aberdeen was acquired for the programme by Tern Television who have produced the series since 1992.

The show was once parodied in the BBC Scotland comedy sketch show Scotch and Wry, with Rikki Fulton as George Barron and Gregor Fisher as Jim McColl (dubbed the sunshine boyos) "growing" whisky.

Since the 1980s The Beechgrove Garden has been shown intermittently on the BBC in England usually in non-prime time slots during the day. Since 2013 The Beechgrove Garden has been broadcast in the rest of the UK, usually early on a Sunday morning slot.

Theme

The theme tune for the show is the jig "Miss Tara MacAdam".

Presenters

The presenters on the programme included:

  • Jim McColl. (1978-current) As of 2016
  • George Barron. (1978-1984)
  • Bob Weir.
  • Dick Gardiner. (1984-1990)
  • Carole Baxter. (Mid 80s - current) As of 2016
  • Sid Robertson. (1990-1994)
  • Bill Torrance. (1990 -1999)
  • Carolyn Spray. (2010- )
  • Lesley Watson (2010- )
  • Chris Beardshaw. As of 2016
  • George Anderson. As of 2016
  • Other regular contributors include the BBC Scotland weather presenters Heather Reid, Gail McGrane and Peter Sloss, who present forecasts on the show.

    The Beechgrove Potting Shed

    A sister programme, The Beechgrove Potting Shed, was broadcast weekly on BBC Radio Scotland between 1978 and 2012. Presented in its latter years by Theresa Talbot, it was axed as part of a cost-cutting measure by the station.

    References

    The Beechgrove Garden Wikipedia