The Cook report

The Cook Report was a British current affairs television programme shown on ITV, produced for the network by Central Television from 1987 to 1998.

History
For sixteen series over twelve years the programme featured Roger Cook travelling the world to investigate serious criminal activity, injustice and official incompetence. But it is perhaps best remembered for its ground-breaking undercover 'stings' and for Cook's trademark confrontations with his targets, during which he (and sometimes the film crew) could suffer verbal and physical abuse. In its time, The Cook Report was by some margin the highest rated current affairs programme on British television, with audiences peaking at more than 12 million. It was credited with helping to achieve numerous criminal convictions and a number of changes in the law.

Amongst the many subjects tackled, the programme has exposed Northern Ireland protection rackets, baby trading in Brazil and Guatemala, canned hunting in South Africa, loan sharks, the ivory trade, people smuggling, drug dealing, mock auctions, counterfeit consumer goods, manipulation of the UK Singles Chart, war criminals in Bosnia and the Russian black market in weapons-grade plutonium.

The one that got away
In 1994, The Cook Report worked in co-operation with The Guardian newspaper on the infamous cash for questions story and had filmed a lobbyist claiming that he ‘used MPs like taxis’ and paid them to ask questions in parliament on behalf of clients. The programme arranged a sophisticated sting operation to see if this claim was justified, but by the end of the then current series filming was incomplete. The Guardian subsequently decided to go it alone. Since the story would have been very tired by the time the programme was back on air nearly six months later, it was cancelled on a purely pragmatic basis. It was the only film out of the 130 produced which suffered this fate.

Cook Report Specials
The Cook Report ran regularly for two seven-part series each year until 1997, when the programme reached its 122nd edition. It was then replaced by a number of hour-long Cook Report Specials including:


 * Doctors From Hell (24/08/1999)
 * Locks, Stocks, Burglars and Fences (23/04/1999)
 * The Dodgy Motor Show (03/12/1998)
 * The Antiques Rogue Show (19/08/1998)

Cancelled
The Cook Report came to an end in 1999 when ITV, which had previously cancelled a number of current affairs programmes made for the channel (including World in Action) was faced with dwindling budgets and had focussed on other kinds of programming, thus the ITV Network Centre decided to concentrate its current affairs efforts on Tonight - which, though it attracted fewer viewers, was said to be significantly less costly to make. Roger went on to work on other projects and is also Emeritus Visiting Professor at the Centre for Broadcasting and Journalism at Nottinhgham Trent University. He was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters in 2004.

The programme did return for a one-off, 90-minute special, Roger Cook's Greatest Hits, on 30 October 2007. This update episode was produced by ITV Productions and Interesting Films.

Newspaper allegations
In February and April 2000, The News of the World published a series of front page allegations claiming that The Cook Report had faked a number of programmes in which crimes were set up for him to solve. Roger Cook and members of the relevant production teams issued writs for libel, against the paper. The newspaper demanded an investigation by the then regulator, The Independent Television Commission after it sent its dossier of evidence about the programme which, after an eighteen month investigation, in October 2001 exonerated the programme.

The News of the World initially dismissed the Commission’s findings as ‘a whitewash,’, but after key witnesses for the defense had voluntarily retracted their paid-for testimony, The News of the World reluctantly had to agree with the ITC’s conclusions and made a statement to that effect in open court.

“The News of the World accepts that neither Mr Cook nor Carlton [TV] nor the editors, producers, legal advisers and researchers were a party to any fakery or deception.” It was also accepted that the allegations were false and should never have been published, but the subsequent short correction was printed on page 38. Mr Cook's solicitor, Ian Bloom, described the allegations as "devastating for Mr Cook both professionally and personally, while the The News of the World accepts that neither Mr Cook nor Carlton nor the editors, producers, legal advisers and researchers were a party to any fakery or deception. While it is accepted that the NoW believed that it had grounds to look into the matter, the News of the World now acknowledges that the articles contained material inaccuracies which should not have been published,"

Awards
The programme and its production team won eleven national and international awards, culminating in a British Academy of Film & Television Arts (BAFTA) special award for its presenter in 1997 'for 25 years of outstanding quality investigative reporting.