Channel 4 starts The Great Garden Revolution

25 March 2021

Channel 4, in partnership with Ronseal, has commissioned Rumpus Media to make Ronseal Presents…The Great Garden Revolution, a 4x60’ series designed to show us how to prepare our outdoor spaces for the warmer months ahead.

Filmed with a fast turnaround to showcase the areas of your garden you can work on in the week of broadcast, The Great Garden Revolution will feature inspiring makeovers for gardens of any size or shape, and all tailored to the season.

Each episode comes from a different domestic garden around the UK where a team of experts - designer Joel Bird, ecological gardener Poppy Okotcha and craftsman Bruce Kenneth - will harness their expertise to transform that week’s garden.

Along the way they’ll give viewers a variety of tips, builds and ideas they can put into action straight away, with the team also encouraging viewers to send pictures and videos of their efforts into the show, to be featured in the following week’s episode.

The Great Garden Revolution also features a celebrity guest each week who will show off their own garden and demonstrate their bespoke hacks.

Clemency Green, commissioning editor for Channel 4, said: “We’re so excited to unleash our energetic, creative, thoughtful new gardening team Poppy, Joel and Bruce onto the gardens of Britain. They will help everyone, from owners of tiny terraces to families with huge fields, to get their gardens shipshape for the summer and inspire our audience to do the same.”

Fintan Maguire, co-executive producer and Director of Factual at Rumpus Media, said: “After a year of locking down and staying home we are all more appreciative than ever of our outdoor spaces. So, it’s a great time for a gardening revolution and a new series that is full of practical content that we can all do. With a makeover at the heart of each show, our exciting expert line-up will be inspiring us with creative and sustainable ideas for both the beginner and the more experienced gardener.”

Jane Ryder, European Marketing Director at Sherwin Williams, Ronseal said: “Ronseal is always looking for ways to help people get their DIY jobs done easily in a simple, no-fuss fashion. That is why our products do exactly what they say on the tin.  We jumped at the chance of working with Channel 4 and Rumpus on this new series as it is another way to help the nation’s gardeners by providing tips and advice within an inspiring programme format.

“Our presenters Joel, Poppy and Bruce will be demonstrating all the gardening hacks and ideas that people might never have thought of.  This is about celebrating the can-do attitude of gardeners and DIYers across the country by showing how you do it in a straightforward simple way, which is what Ronseal is all about.”

The Great Garden Revolution is a 4 x 60’ primetime series for Channel 4. It was commissioned by Clemency Green, commissioning editor Daytime and Features, and Tim Hancock, commissioning editor Factual Entertainment, in partnership with Ronseal. It will be made by Rumpus Media and executive produced by Fintan Maguire and Emily Hudd.

ENDS

About The Great Garden Revolution team:

Joel Bird

Joel Bird is an architect, shed builder, and television garden design expert. Joel was the inaugural winner of Channel 4’s Shed of the Year and returned as a judge for the following series. He is resident garden design expert for Your Garden Made Perfect (BBC Two) and has presented garden features on Gardener's World (BBC Two) Good Morning Britain (ITV1), Alan Titchmarsh's Love Your Garden (ITV1) and has appeared on range of live radio shows including Saturday Live (BBC Radio 4), discussing the philosophy of craft. Joel is the author of two books: ‘The Table Maker: A Carpenter's Life’ and ‘The Book of Shed: Designing, Building and Loving Your Shed’.

Poppy Okotcha

Poppy Okotcha is a trained horticulturist and ecologically-focussed grower whose mission is to inspire people to engage with and connect to the natural world, and to advocate for those who are under-represented and marginalised in the world of both horticulture and environmentalism.  

In 2016 Poppy began her horticulture studies with the Royal Horticultural Society and spent time working with a number of community gardens in London. She also studied alongside Martin Crawford the creator of the oldest “food forest” in England qualifying in 2019 as a Permaculture Designer.  

Prior to this, Poppy enjoyed a successful modelling career working with brands including Vivienne Westwood and Chloe, but, in 2016, exhausted by work and international travel, her focus turned to her garden and to learning how to grow her own good quality, nutrient-dense food. As a result of she decided to train as a horticulturist.  

Poppy is a regular contributor to Gardener’s World (BBC Two). She is currently focussed on creating her own edible and medicinal garden, at her new home in Devon.

Bruce Kenneth

Bruce Kenneth, originally from New Jersey, USA has always appreciated furniture, design, architecture and art from a young age. Bruce was born without his right hand and had numerous surgeries to correct this left one, but this has never stopped him from learning to use them to create. Growing up he was more focused on science and pottery and it wasn’t until 2014 when he started woodworking and making pieces of furniture. 

With no formal training but harbouring sheer self-taught talent, he learnt how to make his first chair, one that was inspired by woodworking legend Sam Maloof. After completing the chair, be realised not only did he have a talent but a love for furniture making.  

He moved to the UK in 2016 to pursue a career in furniture design and it wasn’t long before he was spotted by the BBC and invited to be an expert restorer on the show 'Money For Nothing’. He has now been on five series of the long running show and recently joined Channel 4’s ‘Mend It For Money’ which aired in early 2021. Bruce recently launched a range of furniture in collaboration with Knightsbridge Furniture.