Charlie Dimmock returns to screens tonight with a repeat episode of Garden Rescue. In this episode, Charlie and his team try to create an all-access rose garden for Val and Mike in Billerica. Charlie, who rose to fame thanks to Alan Titchmarsh and Tommy Walsh in Ground Force, may be back on screen now, but she once shirked the limelight following a family tragedy.
The beloved Garden Rescue presenter was left heartbroken when her mother Sue and stepfather Rob died in the devastating tsunami that hit the shores of Thailand in 2004. The Boxing Day disaster killed 5,400 people, including 2,000 foreign tourists. At the time, Charli chose not to speak publicly about the traumatic incident, with her rep releasing a statement: “This is very upsetting for her. It’s too early for her to come to terms with this.”
Her father, Terry, told the Evening Standard newspaper at the time, saying: “She’s not coping as well as you’d expect from someone who fears she’s lost her mother. Charlie is very worried. We haven’t heard any news about Sue and Rob at all. “Charlie was planning to fly to Thailand, but she stayed behind because the Foreign Office advised her that the search would be in vain.”
Charlie, immediately recognizable by her striking red hair and casual style from her Army days, took a break from work for several years while she came to terms with the devastating loss.
Her mother, known as Sue, was 59 and her stepfather Robert was 58 when they died; both worked as public relations consultants and lived in Romsey, Hampshire.
Charlie became a favorite after appearing on the hugely popular BBC program Ground Force.
The series became a phenomenon, attracting more than 12 million viewers at its peak, and was successfully broadcast until 2005.
The TV presenter has returned to screens at her own pace, appearing on BBC One’s Garden Rescue since 2016.
The synopsis for tonight’s episode reads: “Chris Hull and Charlie Dimmock try to create an all-access rose garden for Val and Mike in Billericay.
“They start by building a new seamless terrace from the back of the house to the top garden level. Chris’s design is a more traditional rose garden, the central feature of which is a circular brick and sandstone patio under a stunning octagonal pergola.”
The Power of the Garden airs tonight at 5.15pm on BBC One.