‘IT WAS SO UNFAIR’: Garden Rescue Favourite Charlie Dimmock Opens Up About Backlash To Her Transformation
Charlie Dimmock, the much-loved presenter of BBC’s Garden Rescue, has opened up about the “unfair” reaction she’s received over her appearance throughout the years. The gardening expert, who first shot to fame in the 1990s alongside Alan Titchmarsh and Tommy Walsh on Ground Force, has long been a familiar face on British television. Though Ground Force wrapped up in 2005, Charlie’s green-fingered career has flourished, with Garden Rescue continuing to air daily on BBC One at 3.45pm.
Charlie has always been refreshingly candid about her fluctuating weight, telling The Independent in 2016: “I’ve always been up and down in my weight. I’ll never be slim or skinny, let’s put it like that. One season I’ll be a size 14, then 18, but it’s something I’ve just accepted now. I’m at that age where I think, life is too short.”
She also reflected on the public’s fascination with her wardrobe choices on Ground Force, where she famously opted to work without a bra. “The TV presenter Esther Rantzen said to me, ‘You’ll be labelled the bra-less one for the rest of your life,’” Charlie told The Express. “Even now, people still bring it up. It’s very silly. It was just about comfort — if you’re swinging a sledgehammer, you want to be comfortable! People say, ‘Why not wear a sports bra?’ but those aren’t exactly the comfiest things in the world.”
Speaking more recently to The Sun, Charlie said she feels the public’s scrutiny of her body has been “horribly unfair” compared to how her male co-stars are treated. “If Alan Titchmarsh had developed a bit of a pot belly, no one would have turned a hair,” she said. “But because Charlie is a woman, she’s considered to be a fair target.”
Now 57, Charlie remains as passionate about gardening as ever, a love that she developed from a young age. After training in horticulture in Somerset, she landed a job at a garden centre in Romsey, where fate intervened. A chance meeting with TV producer John Thornicroft there led to her being cast in Ground Force, catapulting her into the national spotlight.
But her time on the hit show was also marked by tragedy, as both her mother and stepfather were killed in the 2004 tsunami while on holiday in Thailand, a loss Charlie has described as “devastating.”
Despite personal hardships and public scrutiny, the Garden Rescue star continues to inspire viewers with her no-nonsense attitude, gardening expertise, and unwavering authenticity.
