Phillip Hodson (born April 1946 in Bedfordshire) is a British

psychotherapist Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

, broadcaster and author who popularised ‘phone-in’ therapy in his role as Britain's first 'agony uncle'. His afternoon and evening counselling programmes ran on LBC Radio in London for nearly 20 years. Thereafter he worked on

Talk Radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

and with Jimmy Young on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

Television

He was a regular children's counsellor on BBC1 for six years with ''

Saturday Superstore ''Saturday Superstore'' is a British children's television series that aired on BBC1 from 2 October 1982 to 18 April 1987. It was shown on Saturday mornings with presenters including Mike Read, Sarah Greene, Keith Chegwin, and John Craven. The ...

'' and '' Going Live!'' presented by Sarah Greene and Phillip Schofield, where he was noted for addressing serious juvenile concerns not normally treated on children's television. Hodson also worked on BBC1 Daytime with Dr Miriam Stoppard for three years dealing with problem phone calls besides interviewing and ‘analysing’ celebrities. He also filled the agony slots in the first years of both

TV-am TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchise ...

and

GMTV GMTV (an initialism for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ''ITV Breakfast, ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited'', was the name of the national ITV (TV network), ITV breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the Uni ...

. Hodson co-presented TV South's afternoon '' Problem Page'' for five years and was subsequently given his own interview chat show '' Hodson Confidential''. This ran for three series, and was networked several times. He has also made several documentaries including films for ''Newsnight'' on subjects such as scandal-prone politicians.

Journalism

Hodson has contributed to ''The Times'' and written extensively for the popular press including agony pages for ''Reveille'', ''The Daily Star'', ''Today'' and the ''News of the World''. His column has also appeared in publications such as ''Woman's World'', ''Cosmopolitan'', ''Family Circle'', ''Fast Forward'', ''TV Quick'', ''Woman and Home'' and ''Woman's Journal''. Hodson won a 'columnist of the year' in 1984. He has been an outspoken critic of the 'stiff upper lip' attitude of male conservatism – clashing, amongst others, with the sociologist

Frank Furedi Frank Furedi (; born 3 May 1947) is a Hungarian Canadians, Hungarian-Canadian academic and emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent. He is well known for his work on culture of fear, sociology of fear, education, therapy culture ...

Books, academic and psychotherapy work

Hodson has written 13 books mainly on sex and relationships but also covering the operas of Wagner. His most important is probably ''Men: An Investigation into the Emotional Male'', which accompanied a BBC TV series in one of the first male engagements with the challenges of feminism. He has also taught psychology at the graduate level and made training films for Video Arts Ltd about using counselling techniques in the workplace, and he has also won several industry awards. In addition to his psychotherapy practice, Hodson was Chief Spokesperson for the

British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) is a professional body for counselling, counsellors and psychotherapy, psychotherapists practising in the United Kingdom. History Originally founded in 1977 as the British Associ ...

(from 2005-2013) and subsequently for the

United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy The United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) is a professional association of psychotherapy organisations and practitioners in the United Kingdom. History The UKCP exists to "promote and maintain the profession of psychotherapy and the ...

. Phillip Hodson has been ‘happily unmarried’ to

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and

Anne Hooper for over 40 years with whom he has a son and two stepsons. All of the family have worked in the media.

Notes

External links

''Debrett's People of Today''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hodson, Phillip 1946 births Living people People from Bedfordshire British columnists British psychotherapists