Journalist Roger Cook, who is best known for ITV’s self-titled The Cook Report, has passed away “after a short illness.”
Cook’s parents were New Zealanders, but he was brought up in Australia, and began his career with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as a reporter and newsreader on both radio and television before moving to the UK in 1968, where he joined BBC Radio 4’s The World at One programme and subsequently worked on several other BBC radio and television programmes, including PM, Panorama, Nationwide, and Newsnight.
He will mostly be remembered for his own show, The Cook Report, however, the famous ITV investigative news and current affairs series, produced by Central Independent Television in Nottingham.
Cook’s fame extended to being 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, where 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 in the satirical series Spitting Image. In one sketch, Cook’s puppet double goes to the Pearly Gates and confronts God as if he were a crooked estate agent who promised land to the Jews, only to offer the same land to the Arabs under the name of Allah.
Cook had previously survived both prostate and bladder cancer.
Cook’s family said in a statement: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Roger Cook, who died peacefully on Saturday after a short illness. Alongside a distinguished and award winning career in journalism, Roger was first and foremost a beloved husband and father. He will be deeply missed by all of us, and we ask for privacy as we navigate this difficult loss.”
His former employer ITV added: “In a career spanning an incredible five decades, Roger Cook’s groundbreaking approach to investigative journalism made him one of broadcasting’s most trusted and respected figures. On his eponymous current affairs programme, The Cook Report, Roger worked tirelessly to expose criminal wrongdoing and injustice, helping to drive important and lasting changes in the law. His fearless contribution to journalism will long be remembered, and we send our deepest sympathies and condolences to his wife, family and friends at this difficult time.”
While Cook’s investigations took him across the UK and around the world, some of his most significant work touched directly on stories that shaped Northern communities.
His reporting examined questions surrounding the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster during the long campaign for justice, while investigations into National Union of Mineworkers finances and Arthur Scargill placed him at the heart of debates surrounding one of the defining industrial disputes of the twentieth century.
Other investigations exposed loan sharks, rogue traders, organised criminal networks and consumer scams, often focusing on issues affecting ordinary people rather than the political or corporate elite.
Image: Cook family handout
