Colin Tough (born October 1959 in

Clydebank Clydebank () is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Milton beyond) to the w ...

, Dunbartonshire) is a British journalist and author, former Editor in Chief of

What's On TV ''What's on TV'' is a weekly television listings magazine published by Future PLC. Overview ''What's on TV'' is a weekly UK television magazine. It publishes features, TV listings, news and gossip from soap operas, as well as puzzles and com ...

TVTimes ''TV Times'' is a British television listings magazine. From 1955 until 1991, it was the only source of seven-day listings for ITV and, from 1982, Channel 4 (as well as S4C in Wales in an enclosed local supplement titled '' Sbec''). The magaz ...

and

TV & Satellite Week ''TV & Satellite Week'' is a television listings magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing. Its focus is on quality dramas, comedy and documentaries, films and sport. ''TV & Satellite Week'' belongs to Future Publishing's ...

, and former Managing Director of

Future PLC Future plc is a British publishing company. It was started in 1985 by Chris Anderson (entrepreneur), Chris Anderson. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History 1985–2012 The company was ...

's TV & Entertainment group.

Early life

Tough attended

Clydebank High School Clydebank High School is a non-denominational secondary school in Clydebank, Scotland. It is one of three non-denominational secondary schools in West Dunbartonshire. History The Education (Scotland) Act 1872 created for the first time mandatory ...

, where he was head boy in his final year.

Career

Tough started his career in Scottish newspapers and at 19 edited his first title, The Govan Press, where he commissioned Captain Clyde, one of the first comic strips by now-renowned comic book writer

Grant Morrison Grant Morrison (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narratives, Humanism, humanist philosophy and counterculture, countercultural leanings. Morrison has writt ...

. He moved to London and the magazine industry in 1983. In the early 1990s, he edited the short-lived UK edition of

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

, joined

as deputy editor and was launch editor of

. Tough launched IPC Media's digital initiative in 1994 and, as new media editor-in-chief and publishing director, was involved in all of IPC’s early digital projects, including the Milia d’Or award-winning CD-Rom magazine, UnZip, and the UK's first digital EPG. In 2002 he edited IPC’s market-leading Web User, before taking over as editor of Britain’s best-selling magazine,

. Three years later he launched the UK’s first compact TV magazine, TV easy. In 2016 he was appointed editor-in-chief of all

Time Inc Time Inc. (also referred to as Time & Life, Inc. later on, after their two onetime flagship magazine publications) was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New Yo ...

TV titles. Colin became managing director of

's TV & Entertainment group in July 2020. He retired in 2021. Shortlisted 15 times for the

British Society of Magazine Editors The British Society of Magazine Editors (BSME.market) is a professional association of print and onlinBSME.MARKETeditors in the United Kingdom. Established in 1981, the BSME.market has 148 members. Its annual awards—the BSME.market Awards and t ...

(BSME) awards, Tough won the BSME Entertainment & Celebrity Editor of the Year award in 2018. He also won the IPC Media Editor of the Year award in 2001, 2007 and 2012. Since retiring, he has written three books – his autobiography, Guess Who I Met!, and two London walking guides. In addition to his journalistic work, Tough also devised Sounds Like Music, an afternoon game show which ran for two 26-show series on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

Personal life

Tough is married with a son. His brother is Ian Tough of the comedy act

The Krankies The Krankies are a Scottish comedy duo who enjoyed success as a cabaret act in the 1970s and on television in the 1980s, featuring in their own television shows and making pop records. Since this period, they have also regularly appeared in pan ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tough, Colin 1959 births Living people People from Clydebank British magazine editors