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Donal MacIntyre (born 25 January 1966) is an Irish
investigative journalist Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...
, specialising in investigations, undercover operations and television exposés. He has also worked as a presenter of both television news and documentaries on various UK channels. In 2007, MacIntyre directed ''
A Very British Gangster Domenyk Lattlay-Fottfoy (born Dominic James Noonan, 13 June 1964) is an English gangster and sex offender. With his brother Desmond "Dessie" Noonan, he headed a criminal organisation or "crime firm" in Manchester, England during the 1980s and 1 ...
'', which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. From April 2010, he presented ITV's local news show ''
London Tonight ''ITV News London'' is a British television news service broadcast on both ITV London and the ITV Hub. It is produced by ITN. History London News Network The programme launched on Monday 4 January 1993 as ''London Tonight'', after Carlton ...
'' for a few months. In 2009, MacIntyre took part in the fourth series of '' Dancing on Ice'', where he was runner-up to
Ray Quinn Raymond Arthur Quinn (born 25 August 1988) is an English actor, singer, dancer and carpet layer. He is best known for his role as Anthony Murray in ''Brookside'' from 2000 to 2003. He achieved more public recognition when he auditioned for the ...
. In 2014, he participated in the first series of '' The Jump'' where he was runner-up to
Joe McElderry Joseph McElderry (; born 16 June 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. He won the sixth series of the ITV show ''The X Factor'' in 2009. His first single " The Climb" reached number one on both the UK Singles Chart and the Irish Singl ...
. MacIntyre has also worked for the
CBS Reality CBS Reality is a European television channel broadcast in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. History CBS Reality was launched as Reality TV on 1 December 1999 as a joint-venture between UPCtv and Zone Vision. In 2005, Liberty Global, owner of U ...
channel, including as presenter of the documentary series '' Donal MacIntyre: Unsolved'', which looks at unsolved criminal cases such as abductions and murders.


Early life

MacIntyre is a twin and one of family of five children. He was educated in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
and
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, and completed a Master's degree in Communication Policy at
City University, London City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...
.


Career

After graduation he worked as a newspaper reporter for the '' Sunday Tribune'' and later with '' The Irish Press'' in Dublin, covering finance, sports and news. He undertook his first
investigative reporting Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years res ...
into the Law Society investigating allegations of restrictive practises. He then wrote similar investigative articles for ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', '' The Daily Mail'', '' The Sunday Express'' and the ''
New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...
''. MacIntyre began his television career at the BBC on the investigative sports strand ''On-The-Line'' in 1993. In the wake of the Lyme Regis canoeing disaster in which four school children drowned, his canoeing experience made him the natural choice to investigate the incident and the safety culture that had allowed it. He went undercover as an Adventure Sports Instructor to expose the lack of employment standards in the industry. This investigation led to the development of MacIntyre's distinctive investigative reporting style, which he explained as being present for the story, rather than merely reporting accounts of it:
I think print can be very reactive. It just means getting on the end of a phone and getting a quote. For TV it doesn't happen unless it's filmed and that means you have to be there. Our particular brand is called Show Me television - we don't tell you, we show you.
The first series of ''MacIntyre Investigates'' for the BBC caused some controversy when it was accused of falsifying video evidence and blackmail during its exposé of the Elite modelling agency. The BBC was sued for defamation, avoided court through a settlement, and issued a statement admitting that MacIntyre had misrepresented the agency in his programme, but that they stood by him. Towards the end of his second series of ''MacIntyre Investigates'' for the BBC, he came under more open criticism from internal sources. The three programmes were suggested to have cost as much as £2.5 million, while an episode of '' Panorama'' by contrast typically cost £100,000 to £150,000. In return, BBC One's then controller
Lorraine Heggessey Lorraine Sylvia Heggessey (born 16 November 1956) is a British television producer and executive. From 2000 until 2005, she was the first woman to be Controller of BBC One, the primary television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation. ...
expected ''MacIntyre Investigates'' to deliver the ratings, a pressure that other investigative journalists believed undermined its editorial integrity. In 2007, MacIntyre set out to create a documentary because he wanted to "do a Michael Moore for gangsters," in penetrating a world of super-rich villains who enjoy a life of luxury with no legitimate means of support: "It was interesting to make a 180-degree turn from my covert-reporting heritage and have full access. I wanted to build a bond." The resulting production became a film with the title ''A Very British Gangster'' which centred on the life of
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
-based gangster and hit man
Dominic Noonan Domenyk Lattlay-Fottfoy (born Dominic James Noonan, 13 June 1964) is an English gangster and sex offender. With his brother Desmond "Dessie" Noonan, he headed a criminal organisation or "crime firm" in Manchester, England during the 1980s and 1 ...
, whose brother Desmond Noonan was stabbed to death during filming. MacIntyre directed the anti-smoking commercials for the SMOKE IS POISON campaign. This series included the ''
Polonium Polonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84. Polonium is a chalcogen. A rare and highly radioactive metal with no stable isotopes, polonium is chemically similar to selenium and tellurium, though its metallic character ...
'' commercial that the British Government banned out of sensitivity to the family of the murdered Russian
dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...
Alexander Litvinenko who was killed using the substance. From 6 April 2008 MacIntyre has presented a weekly radio show on BBC Radio 5 Live. In June 2009, both he and his wife, Ameera de la Rosa (who was suffering from a brain tumour at the time) were attacked and beaten at the Cloud 9 wine bar in
Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...
in what is believed to have been a revenge attack, linked to the prosecution of Jason Marriner and other Chelsea hooligans in the 1999 documentary. In 2010, MacIntyre briefly co-hosted
ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...
's local news show ''London Tonight'', stepping down after six months in the post. He writes for '' Sunday World'' and is a
visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...
of criminology at
Birmingham City University , mottoeng = "Do what you are doing; attend to your business" , established = 1992—gained university status1971—City of Birmingham Polytechnic1843—Birmingham College of Art , type = Public , affiliation = ...
in which capacity he has been a panelist on the Crime Bites Podcast.


''Dancing on Ice''

In 2009, MacIntyre took part in the fourth series of the television series '' Dancing on Ice''. He and his pro-skating partner Florentine Houdiniere were the runners up.


''The Jump''

MacIntyre took part in the first series of
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
reality series '' The Jump'' in 2014. Initially signed as a reserve in case of injury to other participants, he took the place of the incapacitated
Melinda Messenger Melinda Jane Messenger (born 23 February 1971) is an English television presenter and former glamour model and Page Three girl. She presented the magazine programme ''Live from Studio Five'' and was formerly the co-presenter of the reality show ...
from the fifth night (30 January 2014). He finished the series second to
Joe McElderry Joseph McElderry (; born 16 June 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. He won the sixth series of the ITV show ''The X Factor'' in 2009. His first single " The Climb" reached number one on both the UK Singles Chart and the Irish Singl ...
, who had also initially been a reserve contestant.


See also

*'' At Home with the Noonans'' * Chris Clark, British crime writer and documentary maker who also focuses on unsolved crimes


References


External links


Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Macintyre, Donal 1966 births Living people Alumni of City, University of London BBC people Daily Express people Daily Mail journalists Irish investigative journalists Irish sports journalists Irish people of American descent ITV people People from County Kildare Journalists from Dublin (city) Sunday Tribune people The Guardian journalists The Irish Press people Irish twins