Sue Cook

Cook's father, William Thomas, worked for the Commission on Industrial Relations (later Acas). She has two younger brothers and lived on Burnham Avenue in Ickenham. She attended Glebe Primary School, then passed her eleven plus exam, enabling her to attend the newly opened Vyners Grammar School, also in Ickenham on Warren Road. She gained ten O-levels and three A-levels, and went on to the University of Leicester, graduating in 1971[1] with an honours degree in psychology.

Cook's broadcasting career began as a producer, presenter and DJ for London's Capital Radio before moving to the BBC where, over the next thirty years, she presented programmes for both radio and television—notably, You and Yours, Making History, Nationwide, Breakfast Time, We're Going Places, Children in Need, Out of Court and Crimewatch.

Other BBC TV presenting credits include Pebble Mill at One, Daytime Live, Omnibus at the Proms, Having a Baby, the documentary series Hampton Court Palace, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Maternity Hospital, the 1994 Pilot for Out of This World, (the series presented by Carol Vorderman, in 1996), and the Children's Royal Variety Performance. She was a regular guest on Call My Bluff, and a member of Holiday's team of reporters. For Channel 4 she hosted The Chelsea Flower Show, the Hampton Court Flower Show and the popular afternoon series Collectors’ Lot. She also appeared briefly as herself in the BBC television drama serial Edge of Darkness (1985) and in The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1986).

Cook is a recurring character in the comedy series I'm Alan Partridge, in which she is an unseen friend of Partridge's.[2]

The University of Leicester conferred an honorary D.Litt degree on Cook in 1997[3] in recognition of her contribution to British broadcasting.

Cook's first two novels, On Dangerous Ground (2006) and Force of Nature (2009), were first published by Hodder Headline. Both novels are now available on Amazon as eBooks. She devised and presents a supportive series for writers, The Write Lines, for BBC Oxford and is a patron of the annual Chipping Norton Literary Festival. She is currently writing her third novel.

Cook was the executive producer of Tracker (2010), a film which starred Ray Winstone and was directed by Cook's husband, with whom she collaborated on the screenplay.[4] It was released in the UK in April 2011.

She is adapting her first novel, On Dangerous Ground, for the screen.

Cook is an ambassador for the Prince's Trust, and a patron of the British Wireless for the Blind Fund, the Children's Liver Disease Foundation and Humanists UK.

Cook lives in Oxfordshire with her husband, the film director Ian Sharp, whom she married in 2004. She has two children; Charlie Williams, son by her former husband John Williams (the classical guitarist), and Megan Macqueen, daughter by the children's television producer Billy Macqueen. Her first marriage (1971) was to musician Brian Cook, whom she met at Leicester University.

• Sue Cook at IMDb
• Official website
• The Write Lines website
• Times Educational Supplement, April 1999