The Big Allotment Challenge: Episode 1

The Big Allotment Challenge is back, and this time nine individual gardeners go head to head in a competition hosted by Fern Britton.

Over six weeks, the amateurs are put to the test in a series of challenges. In Grow, they must prove they have the horticultural know-how to produce challenging fruit and vegetables to impress former royal gardener Jim Buttress.

In Make, overseen by international floral designer Jonathan Moseley, the amateurs are tested on their flower-growing and arranging skills.

And in Eat, preserves queen and food author Thane Prince will test their cooking skills as they are challenged to make a variety of preserves designed to show off the glut of produce they've grown on their allotments.

In episode one, the nine gardeners are challenged to grow and present five matching new potatoes, three perfect zinnia stems and in the surprise Make challenge, it's floral baskets.

Finally, for a place in the next round, they have to make two Sunday roast sauces. Who will impress the experts and be awarded the coveted best in shows, and who will be first to leave the allotment?