Gardeners’ World viewers were reduced to tears after a professional inventor called Steve shared the news of his terminal cancer diagnosis on the programme.
Steve, who lives with his wife Pippa in Cambridge, appeared on the show to discuss the windmill on his property – known as Impington Mill – that he’s spent 25 years restoring back to working condition.
Things took an emotional turn when Steve explained he’d “very recently” received a terminal cancer diagnosis. “I don’t know how long I might live. Could be two months or two years quite possibly,” he said.
“I didn’t feel down as a result of it. I just saw it as another challenge. I thought, I’m going to have to sort something out.”
Steve reflected: “Actually I had a big creative burst as a result of that positive attitude. And I'm getting there, Pippa and our son will be able to manage this whole process once I’ve gone.”
He added: “I would like to be remembered for the restoration of the mill. But I feel more strongly about the garden.
“I love it as a memorial to Pippa’s efforts. She’s put far more effort into the garden than I have to the mill.”
Viewers were quick to share their admiration for Steve on X/Twitter, dubbing the inventor a “lovely bloke” following his appearance.
“He has the correct attitude, be positive, get up, dress up, show up and never give up,” one person wrote. “
What an inspiration,” a second fan added, while a third said: “Let's hope he can do it and beats the disease as he dearly loves his wife.”
Gardeners’ World host Monty Don said the garden and mill were an “incredible legacy” for Steve to leave behind, adding he’d “never seen” a garden built around a full-sized mill before.
Steve said he’d had an “inventive tone of mind” from a young age and his first creation was a perpetual motion machine: “I think I took my earliest inspiration from Wind and the Willows. Ingenious mister toad,” he said.
Before Steve moved into his house in 1999, the windmill had been derelict since 1930. While the inventor set to work renovating the mill, Pippa filled the grounds with chives, fennel and poppies.
Gardeners’ World first aired on the BBC in 1968. Monty Don took over from Alan Titchmarsh as lead host in 2003 and presented the programme until 2008, when Toby Buckland took over for a two year period before Don returned in 2011.
The programme, now in its 56th series, airs on BBC Two each Friday between mid-March and late October before a four month winter break.
