‘If it weren’t for my daughter, I might never had ended up on TV’
This week’s columnist: TV builder Tommy Walsh
‘I do feel lucky. I’ve got a job I love’
I have always been a glasshalf-full type of person and I always like to look for the positives in life but if it weren’t for my youngest daughter, Charlotte, and a bet she had, I may never have ended up working in TV!
Twenty-five years ago, I was asked to do a pilot episode for Ground Force with Alan Titchmarsh and Charlie Dimmock, but I was happy working in the building business, and I was reluctant to do so.
I got home one evening and Charlotte, who was then eight years old, announced, ‘Dad, you have to be on the telly.’
When I asked her why, she replied, ‘You have to because I have had a bet with the boys. They don’t believe me that you will be on the TV.’
When I asked how she was going to pay for it, she folded her arms and said rather indignantly, ‘Dad, I don’t intend to lose.’
The next day, I told the producers this story and said I’d have a crack at it!
We made the pilot and, from the very first day, I knew we were going to have a success. Ground Force was amazing, and it took me all over the world. It also led to many other TV shows, including my current new one, Clean It, Fix It. Like Ground Force, it’s a feel-good show that sees me, carpenter Asher Edwards and extreme cleaner, Maxine Dwyer, help homeowners reclaim their cluttered space with practical tips. I love working in TV and I’ve made more than 1,000 programmes, which isn’t bad for an old builder! Charlotte and I often reminisce about her bet and she jokes she is owed at least half my earnings! She now lives at the bottom of our garden in a house I built, and she recently gave me my first grandchild – Albie, who is 10 weeks old. He is so gorgeous, and he is such a good baby. He has big feet and big hands, so I think some of the Walsh genes have got in there! Being a grandad is fantastic. I think one of the reasons why my wife Marie and I have been together for so long is we have always stayed in Hackney, East London. When Ground Force first started, it was all hard to consume, and so being close to my roots where I grew up is important to me. We’ve been married for 35 years now and together for 45 years.
I do feel lucky, I’ve got a job I love – and even though I’m 65, I can’t see myself wanting to stop. I love the banter we have making the programmes and though it can be hard work, I love our great British bulldog spirit that the job will get done! As my dad used to say, there is always a solution to everything – and he was right!