Gardeners’ World star Frances Tophill has admitted that she “still cries” over her co-star’s death from terminal cancer. The horticultural expert started her TV career on Love Your Garden alongside Alan Titchmarsh – treating those most in need to a transformation of their outdoor spaces. In one episode, she helped 15-year-old Harri, who was battling terminal cancer.
In a new interview with The Telegraph, Frances explained: “We were going into people’s houses, often at their lowest points. I remember one particularly brutal one – I still cry, I hope I don’t cry now. He was this lovely kid called Harri. He was 15, and he had terminal cancer. Single parent family, only child – this mum in Hull was facing her son’s death.”
She explained that Harri’s bucket list included seeing one of his ducks lay an egg, and stand under a waterfall. She explained: “He was just this nature-loving guy and we made this garden for him.”
Just a month after the episode was filmed, Harri sadly died. Remembering it in the interview, The Telegraph reports that Frances was “blinking at the ceiling, trying to stop tears.”
She said: “Sorry, I can’t think about that guy without crying.
“That’s what makes the world, you know? It’s not me swanning around the Chelsea Flower Show, or anyone else. It’s these real people who are going through real things.”
Harri had already lost a leg to bone cancer and was told at the time of filming he had between three and 12 months to live.
He sadly died after just one month, with ITV confirming: “We’re very sad to say that since this programme was made, teenager Harri has passed away.”
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