The nostalgic appeal of the BBC TV series The Victorian Kitchen Garden owed much to the presentation style and warm narration of the horticulturist Peter Thoday, who has died aged 88. The 1987 hit show made unlikely stars of the avuncular, bushy-moustached Thoday, then in his 50s, and the earthy head gardener Harry Dodson.
Each of the series’ 13 parts (an introductory episode, and then one for each month of the year) brought the pleasures of restoring a semi-derelict kitchen garden at the Chilton estate in Berkshire, where Dodson had worked since 1947, to the screen.
