Tommy Walsh, the building and DIY expert known for starring on TV shows including Ground Force, Homes Under the Hammer and Challenge Tommy Walsh, has died at the age of 69.

Walsh started his career as a professional builder before rising to fame alongside Alan Titchmarsh and Charlie Dimmock on the BBC’s Ground Force from 1997 to 2005.

He went on to also front popular programmes including Clean It, Fix It, and Cowboys and Angels, and joined daytime TV favourite Homes Under the Hammer in 2021.

Walsh’s agent told BBC News he died “peacefully after a long illness surrounded by his family”, and asked for privacy for the family.

Walsh was previously reported to have had surgery for throat cancer in 2022 and lung cancer in 2023.

Walsh got his big break on TV after restoring the house of a BBC producer who was working on ideas for a show that would turn into Ground Force.

“She asked me to look at a couple of pilots. One of them was the precursor to Ground Force, called Over the Garden Wall,” he told the BBC in 2004. “It was like watching paint dry – it was terrible.”

Walsh said he initially turned down the chance to star on the show three times – but agreed when his eight-year-old daughter told him she had made a £10 bet with a boy at school that her dad was going to be on TV.

He found a winning formula with his co-stars, who performed makeovers on gardens belonging to members of the public.

His other shows included Tommy Walsh’s Eco House, Tommy’s DIY Survival, Trading Places, Space Invaders and Fix Your House For Free; and he published a number of DIY books.