Alan Titchmarsh has made a number of huge career decisions over the years, and has shared the warning he issued to his wife Alison before one of his riskiest moves
Michael Moran and Natalie King
06:00, 26 Aug 2025Updated 15:48, 26 Aug 2025
Alan Titchmarsh and his wife Alison
Alan Titchmarsh has revealed the moment he delivered a blunt warning to his wife about his career plans – and claims the only person who backed his choice at the time was his mother-in-law. It comes as the famous gardener opened up on his ‘heartbreaking’ farewell to his wife and daughters in order to follow career ambitions and support his family.
During an appearance on James O’Brien’s Full Disclosure podcast in 2023, the horticultural guru detailed how his dread of becoming too comfortable prompted him to make a massive leap of faith.
“I decided in 1980 that I’d go freelance,” he said, “with a baby on the way as well, so that was an enormous leap.”
Alan had completed his training and later worked as an instructor at Kew Gardens before transitioning into journalism – initially as an editor of gardening publications and then working for horticultural magazines. However, he became concerned about falling into a routine and abandoned his secure magazine position to pursue broadcasting opportunities.
“I warned Alison that my income would probably halve in the first year,” he says. “But it doubled, totally unexpectedly.”
Alan Titchmarsh told Alison that his career decision could impact their finances(Image: REX/Shutterstock)
Following his choice to venture out independently, Alan remembers: “The only person that said ‘good for you’ was my mother-in-law. Everybody else said ‘Ooh, are you sure?'” Nevertheless, he adds, he felt driven to seize the opportunity: “I’ve never been able to do something that wasn’t stimulating me,” he says.
He maintains that same perspective today, having abandoned his thriving chat show out of concern about becoming too settled: “I don’t think you give of your best if you’re just plodding along.”
Whilst he continues to contribute regularly to Gardeners’ World magazine, he explains: “The day I find it impossible to find a current angle on it, I’ll stop.”
It’s this dread of becoming too settled, Alan explains, that makes him embrace the demands of live broadcasting particularly. He takes considerable personal satisfaction in managing to bring an interview to a seamless conclusion whilst listening to the producer’s countdown to the following segment through his earpiece: “The only time I had to literally put my hand over someone’s mouth was with Su Pollard,” he jokes.
Alan reveals he gained tremendous insight from observing a now-disgraced television legend, Frank Bough, who was dismissed by the BBC following controversies involving sex and drug parties. “I learned so much on Breakfast Time and Nationwide from watching the professional presenters there. Although he’s now fallen from grace I learned so much watching Frank Bough.
“He was a consummate broadcaster… I remember watching how he would change cameras the technicalities of presenting, where he looked, how he looked, how he held himself.”
Alan acknowledges that whilst he wasn’t always deliberately mimicking the late presenter’s approach, he recognises now that he’s “using all that stuff that he watched early on”.
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