BBC TV "WDYTYA?" Series 8 Episode #4: Monty Don

[kooky]

I was engrossed with this one! Monty had great empathy with all the relations they investigated.He was very interested and made thoughtful comments about each discovery.There were a lot of loose ends, as mentioned in another post, especially the fate of all those children left without their mother!
Kooky

[danuslave]

Glasses on, glasses off, glasses on, off.....

And not even the same glasses - at least 2 different pairs!

Seems a genuinely nice man with an interesting family.  Agree with the comments about loose ends, but that often happens.

Linda

[Ronbucks]

Another great episode in this brilliant series.

I have found Rupert Everett's to be the most entertaining so far!

Regards

Ron

[Nick29]

I can't say that this was a good episode for me.  Monty Don kept mumbling - despite rewinding, I still couldn't make out what happened to his brother and sister.  The story was 'fairly' interesting, but I suppose Dervla is a tough act to follow 

[JenB]

I found it very interesting, and the Keiller family letters were fascinating. The Keiller connection had obviously been very well researched already. I wondered what had happened to all the employees in the Channel Islands who suddenly lost their jobs when the company closed down there and moved to London?

Jennifer

[angelfish58]

  Monty Don kept mumbling - despite rewinding, I still couldn't make out what happened to his brother and sister. 

Glad it wasn't just me that had trouble   On the whole though I enjoyed this one.

[Marmaduke 123]

I found this one very interesting and enjoyable too. Ann Hodge must have been a redoubtable woman!

It's interesting that the early New Zealand settlers were quite a middleclass lot. There is a fantastic  gallery in Dunedin with portraits or photos of the first settlers, and we found it quite remarkable that there was a university there about 20 years after the first settlers arrived. The Dunedin ones were mainly Scots I think - not sure about Christchurch.

Also liked Monty and his obvious interest. He had some good research questions for the team to tackle.

Anne

[heywood]

I enjoyed it. He has a calmness about him- no drama-  and did try to empathise with the various characters.
At first, I thought that there was a theme of absentees going in the series but then remembered that there wasn't one in Dervla's programme but my goodness - a woman who leaves her family was quite a turn up.
However, bearing all those children to an unhappy, unfulfilled husband might have  been just too much.
It was pointed out that there were servants and Monty Don's ancestor was away at school so perhaps he found it quite easy to manage them.
I can't see baby Harriet, 1 in 1851, after that census.

[esmeralda100]

Also enjoyed the programme and intrigued by Ann Hodge. She appears to have had eleven children in thirteen years - perhaps leaving the country was the only way to avoid having any more! Seems as if Monty's great grandmother Charlotte Augusta had a twin called Harriet Vere who died at birth or soon after. Very tough on all the family with a mother in NZ and a father drowned.