His fearless contribution will long be remembered

HE was the larger-than-life TV journalist who loved door-stepping criminals to ask why they were being so dodgy.

- NICOLA METHVEN

Roger Cook’s bravery facing down the unwilling stars of his investigative shows, most famously on The Cook Report, earned him plenty of accolades - and plenty of bruises.

The telly trailblazer, who has died aged 83, often knew exactly what the crooks had been up to because they'd been secretly filmed beforehand, boasting about it. But it earned him no fewer than 12 death threats.

Born in New Zealand, he was brought up in Australia, where he began his career at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation before moving to London in 1968.

Starting out as a reporter for the BBC, he was poached by ITV in 1985 to make The Cook Report, which was a TV version of his long-running radio hit. It ran for 12 years and made for highly entertaining viewing.