People: Roger Cook pulls plug on show

Roger Cook, that doyen of foot-in-the-door reporters, has decided to pull the plug on The Cook Report after 12 years on ITV.

The investigative journalist, whose confrontational style meant him getting attacked by many of his targets, has decided to pull out because ITV's half-hour shows are not long enough to fit in a full story and because he is fed up with being bashed around. Cook was on a stakeout yesterday, but his agent said: "Roger has really taken a battering over the last 10 years."

Steve Clark, Carlton Television controller of programmes, said: "He has been doing this job for 25 years now. In that time there is not one part of his body that hasn't been injured."

- Paul McCann