Although Charlie Dimmock has long thought the fuss over her appearance was 'silly', it helped her star in her own calendar.
Gardening guru Charlie is a well respected horticultural expert who has been inspiring people to get out and improve their gardens and outside areas for years. She started out on makeover series Ground Force alongside the legendary Alan Titchmarsh and Tommy Walsh and starred in the show from 1997 to 2005.
Despite her expertise, her appearance also attracted lots of attention and she became known for her carefree sex appeal as she got her hands dirty and mucked in with all the heavy jobs. Viewers couldn’t help but notice flame-haired Charlie’s choice of underwear - or lack of it - as she would often appear braless under her T-shirts. Her popularity even lead to her own calendar.
After Ground Force, Charlie moved to the BBC and presented hit show Garden Rescue, which saw her compete against brothers David and Harry Rich to design new gardens for homeowners. It was here that she was given the lewd nickname of 'Horticultural Viagra' according to the Daily Mail, thanks to her lack of underwear and refreshingly natural style, which she later called "silly".
Charlie also spoke about which other TV presenter had warned her how her choice would stick with her and she wouldn’t be able to shake it off. During a 2021 interview with The Independent, Charlie, who still presents Garden Rescue, recalled: "The TV presenter Esther Rantzen said to me, 'You'll be labelled the braless one for the rest of your life'. Ground Force was a long time ago, and I have to say, even now, people will bring it up. It is very silly."
Going on to explain why exactly she opted to avoid the underwire in her younger years, Charlie continued: "It was always just for comfort. If you're swinging a sledgehammer, you want to be comfortable! People say, 'Why don't you wear a sports bra?' But those are not the comfiest things in the world."
But viewers would have been unaware that Charlie also chose to go without another item of clothing - her knickers. During a 1996 interview with the Mirror, Charlie confessed that she wasn't too keen on them, and believed she was 'better without' them.
She revealed: "I only wear underwear if I have to get undressed in front of someone. So no bra. And no knickers either. But if I do wear knickers, they're sort of Marks and Sparks 12-14s, because I cannot abide tight knickers. I find thongs quite uncomfortable as well. So I'm better without knickers altogether."
Speaking with the Belfast Telegraph in 2016, Charlie spoke about how strange it was to suddenly be considered a sex symbol after being catapulted to fame at the age of 33. She reflected: "I was never a sex symbol before, so how could I suddenly become one? It's just a bit silly. I received a few silly letters back then, like a marriage proposal from a farmer in Australia . It was sweet, but I don't think it was serious."
Garden Rescue is on BBC1 today at 4.15pm.