Garden Invaders
Contents |
Host
In rotation:
Mark Evans (2000-5)
Nick Clarke (2001-2)
Alistair Appleton (2002)
Anna Walker (2003-4)
Charlie Dimmock (2004-5)
Co-hosts
Various garden designers, mostly Nikki Mager, Kim Wilde or Sven Wombwell
Broadcast
BBC One, 30 May 2000 to 8 December 2005 (266 episodes)
Synopsis
Strange one, this. This is the weekday garden makeover show which was the stablemate of the Changing Rooms on-the-cheap show, House Invaders. However, this outward-bound version has the added bonus (curse?) of a quiz thrown into the mix. Each day the show visits a couple who can't look after their garden. The garden is gutted, and a designer gets to work along with his minions. However, the contestents won't get key pieces of decking, trellis, clump of plants etc. unless they ask several questions correctly, or complete a task such as build a flower box using just their brains and... the instruction book.
All the work being carried out is hidden from the couple, so questions and tasks are set in their front garden, normally to the bemusement of passers-by. At the end, their new garden is revealed, but in order to win the "grand prize" (normally a table or a barbeque), they must answer a "tough" multiple choice question.
For what is essentially just another make-over show, some of the gardening questions were fairly difficult - and it wasn't uncommon for people to not win the grand prize, or many of the flowers that would otherwise have filled the empty flower beds.