Ground Force
| Ground Force | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Gardening, makeover |
| Created by | Peter Bazalgette |
| Presented by |
Alan Titchmarsh (1997–2002) Charlie Dimmock Tommy Walsh |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 12 |
| No. of episodes | 97 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Endemol UK |
| Release | |
| Original network |
BBC Two (1997) BBC One (1998–2005) |
| Original release | 19 September 1997 – 24 July 2005 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows |
Ground Force America Top Ground Gear Force |
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.
The series was created by Peter Bazalgette and was first broadcast on 19 September 1997 on BBC Two. In each episode, a team of gardeners make over 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, make over the garden over two days, and surprise the individual on their return. The team was led 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,. She became known for not wearing a bra. Walsh was invited to take part after completing work on the executive producer's garden.
The series moved to BBC One for the second series. 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.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 use during the series. Retailer B&Q had sales rise from £5,000 in 1997 to £16 million in 2001. 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."
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