Gardeners' World fans outraged as Monty Don is bumped for snooker and football

'This is a key gardening time of year and you cannot just pause the garden while you play football'

Gardeners' World presenter Monty Don said it was "galling" the show was cancelled

The decision to cut horticultural how-to classic Gardeners’ World in favour of showing sport has been denounced as “madness” by fans of the show.

Filming of the BBC2 favourite will be temporarily halted until 9 May in order to show football or snooker — a decision presenter Monty Don said was "galling".

And the normally placid viewers of Gardner’s World have also voiced their displeasure about missing the show during the all-important weeks of spring.

A petition has been started to protect the regular Friday night slot and it has already garnered nearly 3,000 signatures.

“I’m bloody sick of my Friday nights being spoiled,” thundered Gary Robinson, of Mow Cop, Cheshire, in a comment on the online petition.

And Juliet B, of London, wrote: “You, the BBC, promote and pay to make this programme and then do not fulfil your sales pitch and waste money by cancelling it.

“This is a key gardening time of year and you cannot just pause the garden while you play football.

“The programme also gives people a lot of enjoyment and encourages people to get outside and work in the garden which has to be a good thing on so many levels.

“The BBC should be promoting this - exercise, good for general wellbeing, reducing air miles, good for biodiversity etcetera. Please reconsider and deliver on your commitments.”

Caroline Auty, of Cheadle, said she was “fed up with Gardeners’ World being bumped off the schedule, especially at this crucial part of the gardening calendar. It's time the BBC put all the sport on its own dedicated channel".

And Danielle Gray, of London, said she believed the high number of viewers justified an uninterrupted schedule for Gardener’s World. “Two and a half million viewers per episode, UK's most popular gardening presenter/broadcaster as host, one of BBC2's most popular shows by a long way and yet BBC keep bumping it off the schedule for snooker or women's football?” she wrote.

“Your scheduler needs to be sacked! It beggars belief that the BBC makes such decisions.

“Such appalling scheduling, and as a long-time Gardener's World viewer I am fed up, especially when the program is removed for weeks at a time over spring, the one time of the year that the programme is so needed and relevant to millions of viewers who tune in every week."

In a statement, the BBC said: “Gardeners' World is an important part of the BBC Two schedule and we do try to minimise disruptions but our commitment to live sport coverage, which is also enjoyed by BBC Two viewers, means that our schedule is occasionally subject to change.”