Stars of Genome: Sue Cook

2016-06-16T09:00:00+00:00

Sue Cook was Terry Wogan's regular co-presenter for Children in Need

Broadcaster Sue Cook has been a familiar face on our screens for decades. Her work has included presenting Crimewatch UK and being a regular presence alongside Terry Wogan on the annual Children in Need fundraiser.

Sue, who is working on her third novel and a film adaptation of her first book, takes a trip through her Genome listings - more than 1,500 - and recounts the memorable moments in her career.

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What was your first job in radio or television? I was working as a humble researcher at the Readers Digest when I saw a newspaper article about the imminent arrival of commercial radio in the UK. I’d loved listening to the pirate stations as a teenager and I thought it would be wonderful to work for the forthcoming new pop station, Capital Radio. Clutching my curriculum vitae, such as it was then, I headed straight off to Capital’s brand new offices in Piccadilly where I was interviewed on the spot and I was offered a job as a researcher. On October 16th 1973 I found myself broadcasting live on air providing information on an evening phone-in show. Exhilarating and terrifying.

Do you remember the first time your name appeared in the Radio Times? It must have been my first appearance on �� Radio 4's You and Yours, where I hosted a feature about the cost of living on Thursdays called the �� Shopping Basket. It would have been January 1976 – the first or second Thursday of the year I expect.

How did you feel when your photo was first published in the magazine? I was absolutely knocked out to be broadcasting on the �� – the best broadcasting institution in the world. Shy little me was broadcasting live on Radio 4! It didn’t seem possible, but the photo proved it. Most importantly, my parents were thrilled and very proud.

Sue has recently turned to literary endeavours

Have you been interviewed for a RT feature and did you keep a copy? I’ve been interviewed for a few over the years and I think I do have copies yellowing in a file somewhere up in the attic. They were mostly to do with TV programmes rather than radio; features about Crimewatch from time to time, several about various trips I took for the Holiday programme, and one every year connected with the annual Children in Need TV appeal. Also a few ‘one-off’ pieces about single individual shows I presented.

Have you been honoured with an appearance on the cover and how was it for you? Twice for Crimewatch UK and once for Children in Need. The first Crimewatch one was a shot in the studio with Nick Ross and the two police officers who presented alongside us, David Hatcher and Jacquie Hames. The second cover featuring Crimewatch UK was a rather strange photo of me and Nick standing back to back looking vaguely up at the sky. The Children in Need picture featured me and Terry Wogan. It was always a huge honour to be featured on the cover of the Radio Times, and to go to the annual party to be presented with our framed copy. The nearest I ever got to an award!

Sue's first Radio Times cover for Crimewatch came in July 1986

Could you tell us your memories of the following programmes you were involved with?

You and Yours Throughout 1974/5, I’d been writing and presenting a live daily consumer news bulletin for Capital Radio. By the end of 1975, inflation in the UK had reached at an all-time high – running at a whopping 24% - so food prices would rise and fall by large amounts from day to day. This meant that my daily broadcast really helped people save money and gained quite a following. The �� decided it would be a good idea to produce something similar on a nationwide basis on Radio 4's You and Yours programme. I was called in for an interview and offered a three-month contract. I decided to take the risk and accepted. Within three months, Monday’s You and Yours presenter announced she was leaving. Auditions were held for her replacement and to my amazement and delight, I found myself on the presenting team.

Nationwide In the mid 70s, a new invention arrived on the scene – the telephone answering machine. Shortly after joining You and Yours, I bought one. The first day I set it up, I came home in the evening to find a message from the deputy editor of Nationwide, asking me to come over to Lime Grove to interview for a job as one of the show’s film reporters. I was offered the job and jumped at it. A few months later, Sue Lawley took maternity leave with her second child on the way. Again to my amazement, I became one of the presenters, alongside Frank Bough, Bob Wellings, Hugh Scully and John Stapleton. It was a job I loved until the show was deemed to have reached its sell-by date in July 1983.

'Adrenalin-fuelled terror'

Children in Need After a summer thinking I would have to find myself a ‘proper job’, I was asked to co-present a live legal programme called Out of Court for �� 2’s Documentary Features Department. A year later, the same department inaugurated the first seven hour marathon Children in Need Appeal. The idea had started as a brief Radio appeal back in 1927. Now it was to become a national institution on TV.

Terry Wogan was the principal host and I was brought on to be the sensible, factual element amongst the glamour and glitter. I explained to viewers how their donations would be spent, voiced short reports about the various children’s charities who would benefit and kept Terry Wogan to time when the news loomed at the top of the hour

Being ‘live’, and seven hours long, it was impossible to rehearse and I soon learned to enjoy the adrenalin-fuelled terror of not knowing what was coming up next, coping with technical hitches and busking my way through the unpredictable appearances by boisterous celebrities. I presented the show alongside Sir Terry for 13 very happy years.

Crimewatch In 1984, the production team responsible for Out of Court had been hatching a plan to launch another programme – one that aimed to solve real crimes, live on air. Police and �� executives alike to a little persuading but eventually agreed to try out three shows. On the day of our first programme, the scenery builders called an all-out strike. We arrived to discover the cleverly designed, complicated set was still in pieces on the floor.

After some long-winded negotiation the builders agreed to get back to work and drilling and hammering began in earnest as we tried hard to rehearse. The last nail was hammered home 15 minutes before transmission.

The red light flashed, the first drumbeats of the signature tune boomed out of the speakers. Suddenly I had an awful thought. What if no-one rings up? Luckily hundreds of people did. One of the ��’s longest running factual programmes had begun.

Sue Cook - along with Kate Bush and Ed Stewart - at the start of Radio 1's Personal Call in 1979

Who are the co-stars and other actors have made the biggest impact on you over the years? My favourite co-star was, without doubt, Michael Aspel in my early days of broadcasting with Capital Radio. A wonderful dry sense of humour, totally unflappable; a true gentleman and very generous with his encouragement to my fledgling career.

Are there any people working behind the scenes who have made an impression on your career? Many of the live series I worked on during the 80s and 90s were studio-directed by Pieter Morpurgo. Again, notable for his calm, unflappable temperament when everything was going wrong all around us, I knew it was up to him and me between us to keep the show on the road. I’d like to mention Peter Chafer too, who was the founder editor of two �� TV programmes I loved working on – Out of Court and Crimewatch UK. He made working on these shows fun as well as worthwhile.

How important do you think it is to preserve the history of TV and radio listings? Very important. In many ways, we define our formative years by the programmes we watched and listened to and it’s so great to be able to call them to mind again. In times past, when there were few channels available, we tended to watch TV programmes as they were transmitted, so we all shared the same TV experiences. That sense of the shared experience doesn’t happen so much now, apart from big sports events and Strictly Come Dancing!

Have you ever searched for your own name in the Genome database? Yes! I've been totally knocked out looking at all the shows I was involved with – and several shows I’d totally forgotten ever doing!

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Stars of Genome: Sue Cook

'Adrenalin-fuelled terror'

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