The former Beechgrove Garden presenter Jim McColl has died at the age of 89.
The BBC Scotland programme has been running since 1978, with McColl at the helm from its inception until his retirement in 2019.
The titular garden was based at BBC's Aberdeen headquarters on Beechgrove terrace before moving to a hillside on the outskirts of the city.
McColl was born in Kilmarnock, with his father a gardening supervisor responsible for all the parks in the Ayrshire town.
He began contributing to radio programmes on BBC Scotland in the 1970s before being asked to co-present the Beechgrove Garden with George Barron.
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In the early days of the programme it attracted up to one million viewers, around 20% of the Scottish population.
McColl told The Press and Journal in 2021: "At the beginning, we were given a blank canvas. There was nothing set in stone. Beechgrove was going to be out there, in the back garden. And the rest is history.
“We took the ‘semi-detached suburban garden’ and asked: ‘What does it have? What would people like to have in it?’ And we set off from there.
“In the early days, one of the funny things was hearing people say: ‘What makes you think that you know all this and can present it as if you’re doing the right thing?’
“My answer to that was that George Barron was standing next to me and he had 60 years experience and I’ve got 40 years experience in horticulture.
“That is 100 years between the two of us. So if we canna talk for three minutes about how to grow tatties, then it’s a pretty poor do!”
Announcing his decision to step down, he quipped "if I get down on my knees I'm not sure I can get back up again".
He was given a Royal Television Society Scotland award in 2016, and continued writing for the P&J until September 2022.
The McColl family said: “It’s with a heavy heart we share the passing of Jim McColl, husband, dad and grandad who passed peacefully yesterday.
"He will be hugely missed not only by us but by his friends, colleagues and a nation who he shared his passion for gardening with over four decades at The Beechgrove Garden.”
BBC Scotland's acting director Geraldine McCartney said: "His expert gardening advice and wisdom on The Beechgrove Garden was invaluable to green-fingered viewers over the decades and he will be greatly missed by all," she said.
"Loved by viewers across the nation, he’ll be especially missed in the North East, where he was a much-cherished part of the BBC Scotland and Tern TV teams for many years. Our thoughts are with Jim’s family, friends and colleagues.”
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