Tommy Walsh, Ground Force and Homes Under the Hammer presenter, dies aged 69

Tommy Walsh, the professional builder who became one of Britain's best-known DIY presenters, has died at 69.

His agent, Debbie Schiesser, confirmed the death today, Nov. 9, in a statement to the Press Association: "Tommy died peacefully after a long illness surrounded by his family. As this has only just happened, we would ask everyone to please respect the family's privacy."

Schiesser did not give a cause of death.

From the building trade to prime time

Walsh grew up in Hackney, east London, and attended Parmiter's grammar school in Bethnal Green. He ran his own property business before anyone put him in front of a camera.

The camera found him through his work. He restored the home of a BBC producer who was developing ideas for a gardening makeover show. She asked him to look at a couple of pilots.

One was a precursor to Ground Force called Over the Garden Wall. "It was like watching paint dry. It was terrible," Walsh told the BBC in 2004.

He turned down a role on the show three times. He agreed only after his eight-year-old daughter told him she had made a £10 bet with a boy at school that her dad was going to be on TV.

Ground Force

Ground Force launched in September 1997 and ran until 2005. Walsh handled the heavy construction alongside gardening expert Alan Titchmarsh and presenter Charlie Dimmock. The team built makeovers in the gardens of members of the public, usually as a surprise.

At its peak the programme drew 12 million viewers. In one episode the team flew to South Africa and worked in secret on Nelson Mandela's garden, building a pergola and a water feature.

An earlier episode, filmed in West Hanney near Wantage, recreated a Yorkshire Dales-style landscape with giant rocks, alpine plants and a waterfall.

Walsh was the trade specialist in the trio. A man who could build what the designers drew was central to the format.

A long run of home improvement television

After Ground Force he fronted a string of programmes, including Challenge Tommy Walsh, Clean It, Fix It, Cowboys and Angels, Tommy Walsh's Eco House, Tommy's DIY Survival, Trading Places, Space Invaders and Fix Your House For Free. He also published a number of DIY books.

In 2021 he joined the BBC daytime staple Homes Under the Hammer, following renovation projects and property auctions.

Outside the DIY genre he appeared as a contestant on Celebrity Fit Club, on Lily Savage's Blankety Blank and on the quiz show Pointless.

Illness, spoken about openly

Walsh was candid about his health. In 2002 he found two lumps in his chest. Both were benign, and the scare led him to raise awareness of breast cancer in men.

In 2022 a GP found a lump in his throat during an appointment about an unrelated issue. It was cancerous. "I had to go in straight away and have surgery to remove it. I am now fully recovered and even back playing football!" he said at the time.

He later disclosed a three-centimetre tumour in his lung. At an event for The Swallows Head & Neck Cancer charity in early 2024, he said he had an emergency CT scan the next day.

In June 2024 he described the outcome: "My cancer came back earlier this year... they found it again under the lung. I had to have this new treatment called SABR, which is targeted radiotherapy. It shrunk the tumour and it was going away. The treatment worked really well for me."

His agent has not said whether the illness that led to his death was related to those cancers.

Tributes

His local football club, Old Parmiterians, posted the news on X before his agent's statement. Walsh had played in goal for the club for many years.

"It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tommy Walsh," the club wrote. "A Parmiters boy, he played for the club for many years in goal but made a great career as a TV personality in shows such as Ground Force. He will be sorely missed. RIP Tommy."

Walsh is survived by his wife, Marie, and their three children, Charlotte, Natalie and Jonjo.

No funeral arrangements have been announced. His family has asked to be left in peace for now.