Roger John Bolton (born 13 November 1945 in

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

) is a British

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

and TV and

radio presenter A radio personality is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host (North American English), radio presenter (British English) or radio jockey. Radio personali ...

Early life

After attending

Carlisle Grammar School Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its proxim ...

and the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

he joined the BBC as a trainee in 1967.

Broadcasting

Television

He has worked on television as an editor of ''

Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...

'' in 1978, ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek language, Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any Obtuse angle, wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic image ...

'' in 1979 and '' Nationwide'' in 1981. After ''Nationwide'' run ended in 1983 he became Head of Network Production for 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 ...

at its Manchester studios. After nearly two decades at the BBC he joined

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

as editor of ''

This Week This Week may refer to: * ''This Week'' (1956 TV programme), a 1956–1992 British current affairs television programme broadcast on ITV * ''This Week'' (2003 TV programme), a weekly British political discussion television programme that aired on ...

'' from 1986 and was involved with the controversial documentary "

Death on the Rock "Death on the Rock" was a British television documentary, part of Thames Television's current affairs series '' This Week''. It was broadcast in 1988. The programme examined the killing of three Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) members ...

" in April 1988. Even though he nearly lost his job due to "Death on the Rock", he was kept on by Thames TV and was promoted to be Controller of Factual Programmes in 1989. This job ended when Thames lost its franchise in 1992. After this he set up his own eponymous production company in 1993, and co-founded the Flame Group with Barbara Altounyan in 2001. In the 1990s, he also fronted the series ''

Right to Reply ''Right to Reply'' (sometimes called ''R2R'') is a British television series shown on Channel 4 from 1982 until 2001, which allowed viewers to voice their complaints or concerns about TV programmes. It featured reports, usually presented by a ...

'' for the last six years of its run. This was a ''

Feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause and effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handle ...

''-style television programme for

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 ...

, which like the BBC's '' Points of View'', dealt with viewers complaints to the channel and tried to get a response from the network's bosses.

Radio

As a radio presenter on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

, he is chiefly known for his work on ''

'', which he presented for 23 years, and ''

Sunday Sunday (Latin: ''dies solis'' meaning "day of the sun") is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. Sunday is a Christian sabbath, day of rest in most Western countries and a part of the Workweek and weekend, weekend. In some Middle Ea ...

'' which he regularly presented from 1998 until January 2010. Bolton was removed as presenter of ''Feedback'' in August 2022 by the BBC, which thanked him for his service but did not provide a reason for the change, and said it would be seeking a new presenter and production company for the programme. Bolton said "I'd have liked to have continued", and his removal was met with criticism from politicians and journalists. Following his departure he launched a podcast, ''Roger Bolton's Beeb Watch'', which is produced by a former BBC colleague and focuses on public service broadcasting generally with a focus on the BBC in particular.

Personal life

He married Julia Helen McLaren in July 1987 in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

. They have two daughters and live in

Little Gaddesden Little Gaddesden (pronounced ) is a village and civil parish in the borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire north of Berkhamsted, close to the border with Bedfordshire. As well as Little Gaddesden village (population 694), the parish contains the se ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

.The Gaddesden Society , The Society
Retrieved 2016-10-27.

References

External links

Profile of Roger Bolton
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolton, Roger Alumni of the University of Liverpool BBC executives British radio presenters People from Carlisle, Cumbria People educated at Carlisle Grammar School 1945 births Living people People from Little Gaddesden