As a keen gardener, Alan Titchmarsh spends much of his time outdoors. He likes to get out into the garden of his new home in Surrey as early in the day as he can, and only really settles down to watch TV with his wife Alison once the sun’s gone down: “The evening is the only time we watch telly, usually a drama but nothing too violent” he told The Telegraph.

“We loved The Diplomat on Netflix,” he added, “and the second series of ITV’s Red Eye, and I like programmes that teach people skills, like The Great British Sewing Bee.” Alan, of course, shares his own skills through shows such as Love Your Weekend, and on his Gardening With Alan Titchmarsh YouTube channel.

He proudly pointed out: “We’ve recorded 250-odd films including one recently about controlling weeds without weed killer, which had over 250,000 hits.” Despite Alan’s online success, though, he’s not turning back on broadcast TV. ITV's Love Your Weekend has been recommissioned until the end of 2027, he reveals.

Harking back to his stint presenting Popstar to Operastar in 2010, Alan says that he’d “love to host a big shiny-floor TV show again,” and adds that he definitely would jump at the chance if the right offer came along.

He’s turned down one or two offers: “I’ve been asked to do The Masked Singer and I’ve said no. The only one I did was All Star Musicals. I sang Some Enchanted Evening on stage at the London Palladium. I got away with it, which I was quite pleased about!”

Late last year, the 77-year-old Yorkshireman told The Times that he turns down Strictly Come Dancing “most years,” and recalled: “Some years ago I was asked to go on Dancing on Ice.

“I remember taking the call from my agent. I don’t swear often, but I thought it was worth an expletive: ‘Dancing on Ice? I’m sixty-f***ing-eight!’”

Alan’s always busy with one thing or another though. He’s working on his thirteenth novel but admits that he’s easily distracted by little gardening jobs: “I sit on a bench in the garden with a cup of coffee, then I’ll see something needs doing and I’m off.”

He says he’s come a long way from his first job as an apprentice gardener with Ilkley Council: “I’m a plumber’s son who left school with one O-level, in art,” he says.

“Nothing got handed to me on a plate," Alan added. "There are days when I struggle to work out how that plumber’s son ended up where he is today. Lucky enough to be on good terms with King Charles and Queen Camilla —they are great company.”

Alan adds that he’s always had a great relationship with his wife too: “I married someone who is very tolerant of how much I talk about gardening. I’m sure it drives her mad, but she never lets it show,” he jokes.

Alan married his wife Alison in 1975 and they have two grown-up daughters, both of whom now have children themselves.

Expanding on the subject of how patient Alison is, Alan says that he’s a great believer in tolerance – and that it’s a quality that’s in short supply these days: “Exposing yourself to different views — obviously, I’m not talking about things like out-and-out racism — is part of life."