Matthew Biggs has recorded his final Gardeners’ Question Time programme after saying he is now receiving palliative care as his illness has reached its end stage. The special edition, made at The Serge Hill Project, will be broadcast on Radio 4 and Sounds on Friday 15 May 2026 at 3pm.
Biggs, who has been a panellist on the long-running gardening programme since 1994, chose to make the last recording surrounded by the people who have been part of his life and work for years. He was joined by his wife, Gill, his daughters, Chloe and Jessica, and the wider production team, alongside longtime friends and colleagues gathered for the session.
The programme brings together Peter Gibbs and Kathy Clugston as chairing voices, with Pippa Greenwood, Christine Walkden and Anne Swithinbank on the panel. Guest appearances come from Tom Stuart-Smith and Sue Stuart-Smith, and Biggs speaks in the programme about his diagnosis, the treatment he has undergone and the effect living with terminal illness has had on his mental and physical wellbeing.
His final appearance carries added weight because it will air during Mental Health Awareness Week, a timing that places his account of illness and resilience before a wider audience. The Serge Hill Project, where it was recorded, is described as a garden space founded on the belief that working with nature can radically transform people’s health and wellbeing, making the setting fit the subject matter in a way that no studio could.
Gardeners’ Question Time is a Sony Music Entertainment production for Radio 4, and Biggs has been one of its most familiar voices for more than three decades. That long run is why the farewell matters: this is not just a guest turn or a retrospective, but the closing chapter of a panellist who helped define the programme for generations of listeners.
Mohit Bakaya said everyone at Radio 4 was deeply grateful to Biggs for everything he has given to Gardeners’ Question Time over the years. He described him as an extraordinary contributor and a true ambassador for Radio 4 in the horticultural world, and said the recording at The Serge Hill Project felt like a fitting and moving way to celebrate his time with the show. Bakaya added that the broadcaster’s thoughts and warmest wishes were with Biggs and his family.
The broadcast on Friday 15 May 2026 at 3pm is therefore not being presented as a routine edition. It is the farewell appearance of a man who has been on the panel since 1994, and it closes with the simplest answer the story can give: Biggs is leaving Gardeners’ Question Time because his illness has reached the end stage, and this programme is the last time listeners will hear him on it.
