{"id":4695,"date":"2026-06-15T13:48:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T12:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/roger-cook-bafta-winning-tv-journalist-and-the-cook-report-star-dies-aged-83\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T13:48:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T12:48:00","slug":"roger-cook-bafta-winning-tv-journalist-and-the-cook-report-star-dies-aged-83","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/roger-cook-bafta-winning-tv-journalist-and-the-cook-report-star-dies-aged-83\/","title":{"rendered":"Roger Cook, BAFTA-winning TV journalist and The Cook Report star, dies aged 83"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-placement=\"Body\">\n<p>TV broadcaster Roger Cook, best known for hosting current affairs programme The Cook Report, has died at the age of 83, his family has confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>A family statement issued on Monday (15 June) read: &#8220;It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Roger Cook, who died peacefully on Saturday after a short illness.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The New Zealand-born journalist joined ITV in 1985, launching the eponymous Cook Report two years later.<\/p>\n<p>The current affairs programme ran for 16 seasons between July 1987 and August 1999.<\/p>\n<p>Cook was known for his confrontational, doorstepping interview style \u2013 a format he popularised.<\/p>\n<div class=\"consent-placeholder consent-placeholder--custom-consent mb-md\" data-testid=\"consent-placeholder\">\n<h4 class=\"consent-placeholder__heading section-heading-1 heading-4\">Want to see this content?<\/h4>\n<p class=\"consent-placeholder__text mb-0 mt-0\">This page contains content provided by Google reCAPTCHA. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as Google reCAPTCHA may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose &#8216;Accept and continue&#8217; to allow Google reCAPTCHA and its required purposes.<\/p>\n<p><button type=\"button\" class=\"consent-placeholder__button button--adaptive mt-sm\"><\/p>\n<p>Accept and continue<\/p>\n<p><\/button><\/div>\n<p>He was injured on a number of occasions over the course of his career, suffering broken fingers, cracked ribs and dislocated shoulders, and also received numerous death threats.<\/p>\n<p>His titular show exposed everything from baby trading in Brazil to Northern Ireland protection rackets.<\/p>\n<p>It won Cook a BAFTA special award in 1997 for &#8220;25 years of outstanding quality investigative reporting&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Cook began his career at the Australian Broadcasting Company before moving to the UK in 1968, where he worked for the BBC.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In 1973, he created and began hosting Radio 4\u2019s Checkpoint, which specialised in exposing criminals and injustice \u2013 and would pave the way for The Cook Report, which had a similar format.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"image chromatic-ignore\" data-testid=\"image\">\n<div class=\"image__container\" style=\"max-width:700px\" data-testid=\"image-container\"><picture class=\"image__picture\" data-testid=\"image-picture\" width=\"700\" height=\"465.76026637069924\"><source data-testid=\"image-source\" type=\"image\/webp\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) 940px,(min-width: 768px) 728px,(min-width: 544px) 556px,calc(100vw - 20px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/Roger-Cook-journalist-8744456.jpg?quality=90&amp;webp=true&amp;fit=325,216 325w,https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/Roger-Cook-journalist-8744456.jpg?quality=90&amp;webp=true&amp;fit=375,250 375w,https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/Roger-Cook-journalist-8744456.jpg?quality=90&amp;webp=true&amp;fit=650,432 650w,https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/Roger-Cook-journalist-8744456.jpg?quality=90&amp;webp=true&amp;fit=750,499 750w,https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/Roger-Cook-journalist-8744456.jpg?quality=90&amp;webp=true&amp;fit=975,649 975w,https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/Roger-Cook-journalist-8744456.jpg?quality=90&amp;webp=true&amp;fit=1100,732 1100w,https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/Roger-Cook-journalist-8744456.jpg?quality=90&amp;webp=true&amp;fit=1300,865 1300w,https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/Roger-Cook-journalist-8744456.jpg?quality=90&amp;webp=true&amp;fit=1802,1199 1802w\"\/><source data-testid=\"image-source\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) 940px,(min-width: 768px) 728px,(min-width: 544px) 556px,calc(100vw - 20px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/Roger-Cook-journalist-8744456.jpg?quality=90&amp;fit=325,216 325w,https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/Roger-Cook-journalist-8744456.jpg?quality=90&amp;fit=375,250 375w,https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/Roger-Cook-journalist-8744456.jpg?quality=90&amp;fit=650,432 650w,https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/Roger-Cook-journalist-8744456.jpg?quality=90&amp;fit=750,499 750w,https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/Roger-Cook-journalist-8744456.jpg?quality=90&amp;fit=975,649 975w,https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/Roger-Cook-journalist-8744456.jpg?quality=90&amp;fit=1100,732 1100w,https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/Roger-Cook-journalist-8744456.jpg?quality=90&amp;fit=1300,865 1300w,https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/Roger-Cook-journalist-8744456.jpg?quality=90&amp;fit=1802,1199 1802w\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<p><figcaption>TV journalist Roger Cook in a farm barn photoshoot.\u00a0<span class=\"fs-italic\">TV Times\/ Getty Images.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>ITV paid tribute to Cook following the news of his passing, writing in a statement: &#8220;In a career spanning an incredible five decades, Roger Cook&#8217;s ground-breaking approach to investigative journalism made him one of broadcasting&#8217;s most trusted and respected figures.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/current-affairs\/roger-cook-dies-the-cook-report-newsupdate\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TV broadcaster Roger Cook, best known for hosting current affairs programme The Cook Report, has died at the age of 83, his family has confirmed. A family statement issued on Monday (15 June) read: &#8220;It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Roger Cook, who died peacefully on Saturday after a short [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/Roger-Cook-ac93318.jpg?resize=1200%2C630","fifu_image_alt":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[496,7863,7722,495,7864,1214,7721,485],"class_list":["post-4695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv","tag-aged","tag-baftawinning","tag-cook","tag-dies","tag-journalist","tag-report","tag-roger","tag-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}