Alan Titchmarsh has shared the “heartbreaking” question his daughter would pose after he kissed her goodnight, leaving him feeling torn.

Speaking to James O’Brien on the Full Disclosure podcast in July 2023, the renowned gardener opened up about the challenges of balancing family life with a demanding career.

The 75-year-old recounted to James the “most heartbreaking” part of departing for work on Sunday nights was the moment he had to say goodnight to his daughters.

Reflecting on those times, he said: “It’s not something I wanted but it was at a time in my career where I knew it had to be done. The girls would be sort of 10,11 that kind of age.

“I would go away on a Sunday evening and come back later in the weekend. I do remember the heartbreaking thing of kissing one of them goodnight and them saying ‘will you be here in the morning?'”

He admitted the difficulty in responding, knowing he wouldn’t be there: “I knew I wouldn’t and that was really hard of course.

“I did say, I mean every weekend, it’s not as if I’m in the army going away for three months or a year or whatever, so that was my excuse.”

Despite leaving school with only one O level, Alan Titchmarsh has become an iconic figure in British television and radio, earning a special place in the nation’s heart as one of the most beloved gardening presenters ever.

Titchmarsh first graced our screens as a gardening expert on the BBC‘s long-standing show Nationwide before presenting the 1983 Chelsea Flower Show.

He then went on to front a variety of programmes including Pebble Mill and Gardeners’ World, and joined the beloved trio on Ground Force.

Reflecting on his career, Alan remarked that his stint on Ground Force thrust him into the limelight, with the impact being a “quantum leap”. He commented: “We were getting audiences of 12 million, it was the Bake Off of its day.

“Yes I got noticed before that but not in a kind of obtrusive sort of way. I remember they moved Ground Force from BBC Two to BBC One because too many people were watching it and that’s when we were getting 12 million.

“And I was walking down the street and everybody was looking, and I thought ‘ooo gosh’. I went home and I thought ‘either I get used to this or I come out of it now.”