Caroline Quentin: ‘Old white men’ have stranglehold on gardening shows

Old white men dominate gardening in mainstream media, Caroline Quentin has claimed.

The actress and presenter, best known for her appearance in Men Behaving Badly, recently brought out a gardening book to capitalise on becoming an “influencer”.

Quentin, 63, has amassed more than 150,000 followers on Instagram, where she posts pictures from her 35-acre garden near Exmoor.

She has now revealed she would love to host her own gardening show but claims it is a male-dominated industry and her dream will “probably” never materialise.

“I’d love to host a gardening show, but the old white boys still own that space,” she said in an interview with Good Housekeeping.

“They’ll be replaced at some point by a different generation, which I’m very pleased about, but it probably means I’m not going to get the gardening show I’d like.”

Contrary to Quentin’s claims, Britain boasts several female gardening show hosts including Rachel de Thame and Advolly Richmond, who regularly present BBC’s Gardeners’ World alongside Monty Don.

Frances Tophill and Carol Klein are also among the show’s female presenter line-up. Klein has also presented a number of her own gardening shows from her home Glebe Cottage in North Devon, for Channel Five.

Quentin said after years of suffering from imposter syndrome, she had developed a new confidence and bravado and so would now jump at the chance to branch out into a new area of TV if it was offered.

“For my entire life, I’ve been plagued by this constant voice in my head that says ‘No, you can’t do that’.

“I’ve had the makings of about five different novels and I’ve written scripts that have been in drawers for 20 years because I’ve lost my nerve. I still feel like an imposter a lot of the time, but I’m learning to silence that voice.

“Now I’m suddenly going ‘Who cares if it’s not perfect? What do I have to lose?’”

Asked about her new career as an influencer, Quentin said: “And why not? It’s wonderful that, in my 60s, I’m suddenly doing something entirely different.

“I’m amazed that what started as an Instagram account has sort of blossomed into something much bigger.”

The full interview is in Good Housekeeping’s April issue, on sale now.