Any ideas what the problem is?

Is it in an acid soil? also has it been overly dry or wet? lastly have you looked at the roots have they gone black?

It has been very wet. No, it is alkaline soil...haven't looked at roots...DURR! Will do tomorrow. It certainly looks a "lost cause"!

Mine did much better when I repotted in an ericous compost. But if its been too wet then it may be fungal - Pythium or Phytophtora the base leaves are affected first, then higher up the stem you can tell by rotting or blackening roots. Hope its not but have a look see tomorrow. Hopefully it needs a change of compost now and a good feed next spring?

Wow! Thank you for that! It's certainly looking very unhappy...I forgot to top up with ericaceous compost this year. I'll have a look tomorrow...Cheers!

I note from the photo you've posted that it appears the die back has occurred from the bottom up, rather than the top down, is that correct? Have you checked the crown of the plant, at the base, where all the stems come from? Is there any sign of rot there? This looks like a bacterial problem of some kind - was the plant in a pot with poor drainage?

I have just checked the crown, Bamboo....it seems ok. It's only ever been in the ground but was fine till early this year. I have systematically cut off the deadwood...but now it's looking very sorry for itself! Should I just dig it up and be done with it...or apply any kind of pesticide? I HATE losing shrubs!

Hard to know what to treat it with without identifying any pests. I think you might just have to wait till next spring and see how it performs then, unfortunately. Most treatments work better when the weather is warmer, so it'd be a waste of money and effort to spray it with something now, specially a fungicide. If the crown of the plant looks healthy, its less likely to be phytophthora, and these plants aren't specially susceptible to that anyway.

I have cleared all around the root ball this morning...and it's BLACK all along the one side! Does this mean I should dig the whole thing up now and get rid of it? HELP!

If so, does that area have to be cleaned/ treated etc? I presume there is no way of salvaging anything now!Will this affect anything else that is in that area of ground ?

Thanks again...in advance!

I wouldn't panic - were it phytophthora, you'd expect so see some evidence of rotting at the crown of the plant, and you can only see the reddish brown, or blackish, discoloration if you remove some bark, usually. Does sound like its succumbed to something though, so I think, if it looks awful anyway, get rid of it and replant something else next year, let the soil be fallow there for a few months.