Roger Cook, the pioneering investigative journalist renowned for hosting U.K. network ITV’s current affairs program “The Cook Report” during the 1980s and 90s, has passed away at the age of 83.
His family confirmed his death in a statement.
“Alongside a distinguished and award-winning career in journalism, Roger was first and foremost a beloved husband and father,” the statement said.
ITV paid tribute to Cook, noting that he “worked tirelessly to expose criminal wrongdoing and injustice, helping to drive important and lasting changes in the law” and that “his fearless contribution to journalism will long be remembered.”
Born in New Zealand, Cook relocated to the U.K. in the 1960s after beginning his career as a broadcast journalist in Australia. He spent a significant period on BBC Radio 4’s “The World at One” and, in the early 1970s, created and hosted the radio show “Checkpoint,” wherein he aimed to expose criminals, con-men, and official incompetence.
“The Cook Report,” which debuted in 1985, was an enhanced, higher-budget television version of his radio program. It quickly gained recognition for its filmed stings and Cook’s confrontations with his targets—some of whom would respond with verbal and occasionally physical abuse. Cook, credited with inventing the doorstep interview technique, sustained injuries on several occasions (notably suffering three broken ribs during a confrontation on an earlier TV show). At one point, police warned that a hitman had been hired to kill him. He was described at the time as “the bravest/most beaten-up journalist in Britain.”
At its zenith, “The Cook Report” was the highest-rated current affairs program on U.K. television, attracting more than 12 million viewers. It aired for 16 seasons until 1999 and returned for a 2007 special titled “Roger Cook’s Greatest Hits,” where Cook revisited some of his most notable stories.
In 1997, the British Academy recognized Cook with a special BAFTA award for “25 years of outstanding quality investigative reporting.”
