Marian Foster talks working on Top Gear in its early days

Marian Foster, who currently presents the  gardening show for BBC Radio Newcastle and Tees, has opened up about her experience on the motoring programme, first broadcast in April 1977. 

At the time, the show was in its first year, and Marian was presenting the Pebble Mill daytime show on BBC One, a role she kept for 14 years. 

She said: “It was in its first year and at the time, and at the time, I was part of the Pebble Mill At One presenting team. And so, they were experimenting with what Top Gear could do. 

Marian Foster interviews Dr Claire Weekes (Image: BBC)

“So I was shown how to change a tyre, what to do if you couldn’t get the car to start”.  

Marian also recalled a memory of how the show helped her, when she managed to get her own car up and running. 

She added: “I had an incident a while after that where my car was parked in Pebble Mill Road, just in front of the big building and I couldn’t get the car to start. 

Marian Foster on Pebble Mill (Image: BBC)

“So I opened the bonnet and I twiddled a few knobs and did a few things, got back in the car and it started. 

“And a chap came up to me and said, ‘I’ve been watching you’, he said ‘I couldn’t believe you knew how to open the bonnet of the car, and I couldn’t believe it when your car started, well done!’ 

“So you know, you do learn as you go along but it was quite funny. I felt quite chuffed that I actually learned something. 

Marian Foster (Image: BBC / Marian Foster)

“And then later on, lots of other presenters took over the show and I carried on presenting Pebble Mill for many years after that.” 

Top Gear - which was first presented by Angela Rippon and Tom Coyne and broadcast in the BBC Midlands area - went on to become a major show for the broadcaster.

It evolved massively over the years, with presenters including Noel Edmonds, Tiff Needell, William Woollard and, of course, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.

Top Gear presenters Chris Harris, Paddy McGuinness, and Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff (Image: BBC/Lee Brimble)

Last year, the BBC confirmed that the long-running show would be rested “for the foreseeable future” after former England cricket captain and presenter Freddie Flintoff was injured in an accident at the Top Gear test track. 

Marian was probably best known for her time on the Pebble Mill programme, where she interviewed celebrities and introduced various segments. 

The former Newcastle Geography teacher even had a rose named after her called ‘The Marian Foster Rose’ and was was voted viewers’ favourite while on the chat show. 

In the 1960s, she was one of ITV's first women reporters and a weather girl and later on television fronted gardening reports for Look North.

Marian Foster was recently commended by the Chartered Institute of Horticulture. (Image: Marian Foster)

Marian has also presented music programmes on BBC Radio 2 and ‘Woman’s Hour’ for BBC Radio 4, as well as documentary series  ‘The Task Of Mankind’.

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The broadcaster was recently awarded the The Chartered Institute of Horticulture's Northern Branch Commendation for 2024. 

Chairman Clive Parker, who awarded her on the stage with the commendation, said:  “I have had the privilege to work with Marian recently as the powerhouse behind the ‘Garden Mania’ programme on BBC Radio Newcastle on Sunday mornings, as a stand-in gardening expert I witnessed her masterly command of the broadcast: making sure I knew exactly what I was required to do! 

And I know that she takes every opportunity to promote gardening and community engagement whenever she can, making a positive difference to communities in our area.”