Roger Cook

Roger James Cook (6 April 1943 – 13 June 2026) was an Australian and British investigative journalist and television broadcaster. In 1998 he received a BAFTA special award "for 25 years of outstanding quality investigative reporting", for his programme The Cook Report.

Early life Cook's parents were New Zealanders. He was born in Auckland, New Zealand, but was brought up in Australia, and began his career with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as a reporter and newsreader on both radio and television. In 1979 Cook was threatened by Don Arden, father of Sharon Osbourne, when he started to look into the business practices of the notorious rock manager after Cook used the legal battle between Lynsey de Paul and Arden as a springboard for his investigation. Arden told Cook, "When you fight the champion, you go 15 rounds. You've got to be prepared to go the whole way ... I'll take you with one hand strapped up my a***. You're not a man, you're a creep."

In 1981, during a Checkpoint report for Newsnight, Cook was filmed being violently assaulted by a Brighton antique dealer after confronting him about selling fake antiques. Cook suffered three cracked ribs. He later said: "Mr Harris invited me to step outside and talk things through, but his means of communication proved to be a metal bar".

In 1984 Checkpoint transferred to television for one series of four episodes, broadcast on BBC1.

In a 1987 episode of the programme, "Worse Than The Mafia", Cook tackled Northern Ireland protection rackets. Cook posed as a business man while Ulster Defence Association man Eddie Sayers was filmed attempting to extort money from him. Sayers was later arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison at Belfast Crown Court.

The Cook Report ran for 16 series until 1999, when it was cancelled by ITV Network Centre. In its 12 years on air The Cook Report was the highest rated current affairs programme on British television, with audiences peaking at over 12 million. In 2007, the programme returned for a 90-minute special entitled Roger Cook's Greatest Hits, in which Cook revisited and updated a number of his stories. Cook said in 2007 that he had received death threats as a result of the series. In one investigation, into pensioners being financially cheated after false threats of compulsory purchase orders, he was run over by a car. While recovering from surgery, an Australian doctor told him: "Jeez, mate. Put it this way, if you weren't built like a brick privy, you'd probably be dead." which was revised and updated in October 2011 as More Dangerous Ground.

He held an Emeritus Visiting Professorship at the Centre for Broadcasting and Journalism at Nottingham Trent University and was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the university in 2004.

Parodies Cook was parodied by comedians including Benny Hill and Reeves and Mortimer. In the 1980s, his Checkpoint series was the inspiration for a sitcom, BBC Radio 4's Delve Special, in which investigative journalist David Lander, played by Stephen Fry, doorstepped many fictional villains. When Cook's investigations moved to television, the parody followed, in Channel 4's This Is David Lander, with Tony Slattery later taking over the central role in the show. Many of Lander and Harper's investigations were based on reports made by Cook, Panorama and World in Action.

A puppet version of Cook also appeared several times on the satirical television series Spitting Image.

He died in hospital on 13 June 2026, aged 83. His wife and daughter were at his bedside.

Publications