Gardening guru Alan Titchmarsh will go head-to-head with veteran journalist Andrew Marr

Alan Titchmarsh is go head to head with Andrew Marr in a new Sunday TV show targeted at countryside lovers.

He will present Love Your Weekend on ITV at 9.25am as the journalist’s self-titled programme interviewing political heavyweights airs at 9am on BBC1.

Mr Titchmarsh’s two-hour show is being compared with the BBC’s Countryfile and will focus on rural issues and gardening plus arts and crafts.

He will present Love Your Weekend on ITV at 9.25am as the journalist’s (Andrew Marr pictured) self-titled programme interviewing political heavyweights airs at 9am on BBC1

Mr Titchmarsh’s (pictured) two-hour show is being compared with the BBC’s Countryfile and will focus on rural issues and gardening plus arts and crafts

Guests for Sunday’s launch are set to include Jason Donovan and Craig Revel Horwood. 

Mr Titchmarsh said: ‘It seemed to me it’s such an obvious gap on a weekend morning, where it’s either politics or cooking and you might not necessarily want either at the weekend, good as they are.’

Features will include gardening tips and a relaxing ‘slow TV section’.

There will also be a Tree of the Week segment which will see Birds of a Feather star Lesley Joseph describing the beech as the UK’s ‘sexiest’ tree, The Sunday Telegraph reported. 

Mr Titchmarsh described it as a ‘nifty’ way of teaching people about trees which did not take itself too seriously.

He added the slow TV section would include a person thatching a roof.

He added: ‘We need so much positivity at the moment because each day seems to bring its own woes.’

The presenter added that during lockdown people had discovered the joy of gardening.

The Andrew Marr Show will return on Sunday after a short break. Countryfile airs on BBC1 on Sunday evenings.