THROUGH THE GARDEN GATE
TEAM CHALLENGE FOR FLORAL FANCIES This time last year, our media horticulturalist Camilla Bassett-Smith was busy working on a brand new botanical show for Netflix. Fast forward to this summer and it’s now on our screens! Join her on a behind the scenes tour of the making of ‘The Big Flower Fight’.
It was May 2019 and I’d just finished working on our BBC RHS Chelsea Flower Show coverage, when a telephone call arrived asking me if I’d be interested in working as Horticultural Producer on the first gardening themed show for Netflix! It was from a colleague who I had worked with years ago on ‘The Big Allotment Challenge’ for the BBC. This new programme would be featuring giant towering floral sculptures and it sounded fun, so I packed my bags for London and Kent.
A head for heights I don’t have, but a head full of plants I do and this was one major project which was to fill my life between July and October and to come to fruition on screen this summer.
Featuring 10 teams (12 originally as we had two teams on standby), who would compete every week to create enormous structures filled with plants, cut flowers or dried flowers. Teams
were selected from across the world from Somerset to the USA and Ireland and were made up of friends, family, work colleagues and couples. Hosted by Vic Reeves (know as Jim on set and a fantastic artist in his free time) and Natasha Demetriou – this programme was never going to be dull!
Our base was a picturesque old estate near Maidstone, complete with generous grounds and barns. Our office was inside the main house, very homely and packed full of laptops and snacks!
A giant dome, not dissimilar to The Eden project, was built outside to house most of our weekly contestant challenges – it was vast and great for singing in during the early stages of set dressing. Cacti such as Epiphyllum and Rhipsalis trailed over work stations and everyone had their own secateurs, aprons, string, scissors etc depending on the weekly challenge ahead.
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THROUGH THE GARDEN GATE CAMI L LA BAS S E T T - SMI TH
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