The investigative reporter, who turned the TV doorstep into an art form, has died aged 83 after a short illness, which had nothing to do with the 12 death threats he received from those he exposed17:10, 15 Jun 2026He was the larger-than-life Aussie TV journalist who loved nothing better than doorstepping criminals with a camera crew to ask why they were behaving in such a dodgy fashion.‌Roger Cook’s fearless behaviour in facing down the unsuspecting and unwilling stars of his investigative shows - most famously The Cook Report - earned him plenty of accolades, but also many bruises.‌The trailblazing TV reporter, who has died aged 83, thought nothing of kicking down doors and having a scuffle in order to get in the faces of those responsible for wrongdoing. He often knew exactly what they’d been up to because they’d been secretly filmed beforehand, boasting about it. But over the years it earned him no fewer than 12 death threats.‌Born in New Zealand, Cook was brought up by his parents in Australia, where he began his career at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, moving to London in 1968.He started out on BBC radio, where he joined Radio 4's The World At One as a reporter before presenting investigative programme Checkpoint, which ran for 12 years from 1973. He was poached by ITV in 1985 to make The Cook Report, which was a TV version of his long-running radio hit. It made for highly entertaining viewing, running for 12 years before the axe finally fell in 1999.‌Fearless Cook’s run-ins with criminals and conmen ran for 16 series over 120 episodes. His no-nonsense approach to crime reporting made his show the most popular current affairs programme on TV, pulling in an audience of up to 12 million for ITV and earning him a BAFTA special award in 1997 for 25 years of outstanding journalism.The subjects covered were vast - ranging from rigging the pop charts to child pornography, illegal ivory trading and protection rackets plus war crimes, terrorism, and Russian black market sales of plutonium.‌Describing his methods, he once explained: “We would create a scenario where, using greed or ego, we’d get someone to come along and show what they did - and then you’d pounce on them. And that always produced wonderful television.”He was injured many times in the course of his work, but it never put him off. In 1981, during a report for the BBC’s Newsnight, he exposed a Brighton antiques dealer for selling sham plastic fakes. When he and the crew doorstepped him at the shop to ask why he was ripping people off in this way, the dealer first rang the police to complain that his shop had been infiltrated by “the Mafia” before grabbing a metal bar which he proceeded to hit the journalist with, calling him “a pig”. Cook sustained three cracked ribs in the attack, which also saw the director injured.Announcing his death “with great sadness” yesterday, his family said he’d 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,” they said. “He will be deeply missed by all of us.”‌ITV paid tribute to its former star, who leaves his wife of 44 years Frances and daughter Belinda, saying: “In a career spanning an incredible five decades, Roger Cook's ground-breaking 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.”His investigations were followed by a number of successful police prosecutions or changes in the law. One successful sting exposed a money-laundering scheme by the notorious criminal Johnny “Goldfinger” Palmer, which contributed to him later being jailed for eight years over timeshare fraud.‌Another was a sting on paramilitary extortionists in Northern Ireland, in which a man with a gun demanded £100,000 from Cook, who later said he'd been “sent to prison for ten years as a result”.In 2012, he did an interview with the BBC about the dangers of investigative journalism. He explained: “It started off with Checkpoint when I did something about a local company who would send in the dogs when someone didn't pay their high mortgage rates. I confronted him up a flight the stairs and asked the silliest question I've ever asked - what are your qualifications for being the managing director of this mortgage company other than you’re a former heavyweight wrestler? He threw me down the stairs, with the tape recorder still running.”This encounter led to more than 1000 letters being sent to the BBC and Cook realised he’d hit on a winning formula. Asked if he worried about putting himself in harm’s way, he said: “No, not really. You don’t think about it - if you did you wouldn’t do it - but I do quite often suffer from what I call fear in arrears; ‘oh god, what have I done now?' You have to put it behind you. We’re currently on death threat number 12 and the programme hasn’t been on the air for some time.”Article continues belowHaving a cameraman alongside him proved to be less of a deterrent than many might think. “In some of the most spectacular footage they went for me then went for the camera,” he said, with examples being an Essex gangster who whacked him with a 9 iron on a golf course and a car thief who came for the lot of them with a baseball bat.His work sometimes led to unexpected moments of humour too, because those with a guilty conscience did not know when he was having a day off. In his autobiography, Dangerous Ground, Cook recalled sitting in a hotel foyer waiting for a friend when someone sitting nearby clocked him, jumped up shouting “Jesus Christ!”, and sprinted out of the building.Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.