Tommy Walsh, Ground Force Presenter, Dies Aged 69
Tommy Walsh, the builder and television presenter who appeared on the BBC garden makeover show Ground Force, has died aged 69 after a long illness. The Guardian reported the death on 9 November 2026. His agent, Debbie Schiesser, said he died peacefully, surrounded by his family.
Walsh was from Hackney in east London. He attended Parmiter's grammar school in Bethnal Green and played football for the old boys' club Old Parmiterians. He started out as a professional builder and ran his own property business before he moved into television.
His best-known role came on Ground Force, which ran on the BBC from 1997 to 2005. The show, in which a team transformed gardens, was presented by Walsh alongside Alan Titchmarsh and Charlie Dimmock. At its peak it drew 12 million viewers, according to the Guardian. In one of its most widely remembered episodes, the team was flown to South Africa to work in secret on the garden of Nelson Mandela, where they built a pergola and a water feature.
Walsh later fronted other programmes, including Clean It, Fix It and Cowboys and Angels. He joined the BBC show Homes Under the Hammer, in which property is renovated and sold, in 2021.
Walsh had surgery for throat cancer in 2022 and for lung cancer in 2023, the BBC reported. He was married to Marie Walsh, and the couple had three children: Charlotte, Natalie and Jonjo.
