Cathy Rogers (born 29 May 1968) is an English television executive, producer, presenter and musician. She was the presenter of the British reality competition series '' Scrapheap Challenge'' and its American counterpart '' Junkyard Wars''. She is also known for being the keyboardist and backing singer for the

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

bands Heavenly and Marine Research. She has since trained as an educational neuroscientist. Rogers was born in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. She studied medicine at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, earning a master's degree in Health Policy. Rogers joined the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

as a producer in the early 1990s, specialising in scientific documentaries, including work on the long-running series ''

Horizon The horizon is the apparent curve that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This curve divides all viewing directions based on whethe ...

''. During the same period, she played keyboards and sang vocals in the

twee pop Twee pop is a subgenre of indie pop that originates from the 1986 ''NME'' compilation '' C86''. Twee pop gets its name from the aesthetic of twee, which is known for its simplicity and childlike innocence. Some of its defining features are boy-gi ...

group Heavenly. In 1995 Rogers moved to the independent production company RDF Media, where she helped devise and produced the popular

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

technology

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of everything in existence; everything that is not imagination, imaginary. Different Culture, cultures and Academic discipline, academic disciplines conceptualize it in various ways. Philosophical questions abo ...

game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...

'' Scrapheap Challenge'', known in North America as ''Junkyard Wars''. She appeared onscreen as co-presenter of ''Scrapheap Challenge'' from the second series onwards until 2001 when Lisa Rogers (no relation) took over, and of ''Junkyard Wars'' for the first three series until replaced by Karyn Bryant. She also created and hosted a related programme, '' Full Metal Challenge''. She continued her popular music career as well, playing with the Heavenly spinoff Marine Research in the late 1990s. In 2001, Rogers was promoted to creative director at RDF Media's new

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

centre, where she oversaw the company's activities in the United States, including the American versions of popular shows such as '' Faking It'' and '' Wife Swap''. She then ran an olive farm in Loro Piceno, Italy, and set up a tree adoption scheme. She published an account of her time in Italy as ''The Dolce Vita Diaries''. In 2009 she returned to RDF Media as creative director. She subsequently completed a PhD in Educational Neuroscience at Birkbeck, University of London and has published an introduction to the field.

References

;Notes

External links

*
Guardian article about The Dolce Vita Diaries

Summary of PhD Project at Birkbeck
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Cathy English television executives Women television executives English television producers British women television producers English television presenters English rock keyboardists 1968 births Living people Alumni of the University of Oxford Alumni of St Catherine's College, Oxford