The programme presenter is Ethnobotanist, Scientist and Gardener James Wong and ran for 2 Series along with a Christmas Special.
James was just 27 years old when he presented this very popular show which saw him growing, foraging and buying natural ingredients to make his own remedies for everyday ailments.
James was brought up in Singapore, Malaya and Borneo where his grandmother taught him how she used natural remedies as his father came from Singapore and his mother was from Wales.
Each week he used a different produce from fruit, herbs, trees, roots and garden flowers to name a few to help treat everything from acne to a sore throat.
After collecting the ingredients James would welcome into his kitchen people suffering from an ailment he was producing a remedy for and they would learn how to produce this and would then trial the product at home before sharing the results.
Some remedies were a lot simpler to make than others with a simple tea infusion to quite complex cooking and ingredients and as a lot of them were mostly natural ingredients they also were given a shelf life.
To accompany the series and also help with the recipe aspect of the programme James Wong also had a book for each series and these were best sellers at the time and are probably still gathering dust on the shelves of many a home.
Even though holistic remedies were at the time very popular I do wonder how many people tried to produce the remedies themselves or just bought into the concept.
Growing, sourcing and foraging your produce are all feel good activities in themselves and this enjoyable and informative series, along with its enthusiastic and knowledgeable host James was a remedy for an enjoyable watch.
Grow Your Own Drugs Episodes
Series 1
First Shown 02 March 2009
Episode 2 Flowers
Episode 3 Trees
Episode 4 Herbs
Episode 5 Roots
Episode 6 Veg
Christmas Special 16 December 2009
Series 2
First shown 23 March 2010
Episode 1 Garden Herbs
Episode 2 Incredible Edibles
Episode 3 Exotic Plants
Episode 4 Petals
Episode 5 Shrubs and Trees
Episode 6 Wilds Plants
Books from the Television Series
Grow Your Own Drugs
2010
Grow Your Own Drugs: A Year With James Wong
All Photographs are Copyright of BBC.com
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