Søren Ryge Petersen

Danish television personality, journalist and author, and a self-taught garden expert. From 1988 to 2020 he hosted Søren Ryge (formerly DR Derude Direkte) on DR1, televised directly from his garden on Djursland. Each broadcast was recorded with only one camera, and the programme has therefore been termed "Dogme TV."

Petersen was editor of the Danske Haveselskab magazine Haven from 1978-1990. He made his first television programs in 1977. Under the title DR Derude, Petersen has also made other programs for DR and produced a number of programs about nature and people. He wrote a permanent gardening column in the "Lördagsliv" section of the daily newspaper Politiken.

Petersen starred as a hunter in the Norwegian Forest and Nature Agency's information film Jagt med haglgevær (Hunting with a Shotgun) in 2009. The film was aimed at new hunters and was issued to the country's approximately 170,000 hunting licence holders.

On 5 August 2020, the last episode of Søren Ryge was broadcast live. Petersen, who had turned 75 shortly before, told DR: "I am neither sick, ill or worn out, but I would like to stop while I can make the decision myself."

Søren Ryge was for a number of years married to Margrethe Brogaard, with whom he has a son Jens and a daughter Signe Ryge Petersen. He then married the landscape architect Maj Scharff, with whom he has a son, Malthe Ryge Petersen, who is a writer and owner of the travel agency Fiskeeventyr. Søren Ryge Petersen has lived with schoolteacher Cathrine Becher for a number of years.