Pioneer Productions have been commissioned by Channel 4 and Passion Distribution to go behind palace walls to unearth little known facts about these horticultural wonders in a new four part series, ‘Secrets of the Royal Gardens’ for More4.

Narrated by Hugh Bonneville, this series reveals the secrets of Britain’s most spectacular Royal Gardens and Parks. From Buckingham Palace’s 39-acre garden with its beautiful 150 metre herbaceous border that thrives in its own microclimate, to the vast Balmoral estate in the Scottish Highlands with its very own pyramid, built as a memorial to Prince Albert - to Hampton Court Palace, home to the world’s largest grape vine. Every Royal Garden has a fascinating story to tell.

Taking us behind the scenes of these iconic spaces are historians, garden designers, wildlife experts and royal gardeners who explain how they keep the gardens fit for a Queen, Prince or Princess. They each reveal an incredible array of secrets and little-known facts ranging from how Royal bees were specially chosen so they wouldn’t swarm guests at the Buckingham Palace garden parties, to the work that goes into growing hundreds of thousands of flowers each year inside the Royal Parks spectacular super-nursery.

Experts from Kew’s Royal Botanic Gardens will reveal amazing horticultural wonders including how structures like their Great Pagoda inspired Prince Charles’ Highgrove gardens and explain why a hallucinogenic fungus was found in Buckingham Palace’s Garden. And Britain’s leading rose breeder explains how the Duke of Edinburgh rose was created, before being planted by the Queen to mark what would have been Prince Philip’s 100^th birthday.

The series is Executive Produced by Peter Collins for Pioneer Productions, with Stuart Strickson as series producer. It is commissioned for More4 by Shaminder Nahal and Naomi Rose, and for Passion Distribution by Emmanuelle Namiech and Nick Tanner. Passion will also distribute, with the series already being pre-sold to SBS Australia.

Executive Producer, Peter Collins said: “The Royal Parks and Gardens are unique in that they are full extraordinary wildlife, but also have rich, fascinating histories. Every flower and tree has a story to tell.”

Nick Tanner, Director of Sales and Co-Productions at Passion Distribution, said: “The Royal gardens are as important to royal life as the grand buildings they often encompass. The Secrets of Royal Gardens is a beautiful and insightful journey through some of the best known, but perhaps least understood royal landscapes. We’re thrilled to be working with Pioneer Productions and More4.”