Hardeep Singh Kohli is a regular on BBC 1’s Question Time, and This Week with Andrew Neil and was a former Newsnight Review presenter and contributor. He was runner-up on the first series of Celebrity Masterchef which led to two series for UKTV Food, New British Kitchen and Chefs and the City.
For Channel 4 he wrote and presented the BAFTA award-winning in Search of the Tartan Turban which led to the critically acclaimed and award winning Hardeep Does… Also for C4, he wrote and presented the three part gambling series £50 says you’ll watch this and presented a ground-breaking documentary about Scientology, The Beginners Guide to L. Ron Hubbard. In 2002 he wrote, directed and starred in a show called Meet the Magoons, part of Channel 4’s Comedy Lab series: a series was commissioned, broadcast in 2004 and nominated for the Golden Rose of Montreux.
His love of food is evidenced by his larger-than-average waistline and the publication in 2008 of his first book Indian Takeaway, nominated for an Independent Book Award. He has written about food for Olive, Observer Food Monthly, The Spectator, The Times, The Sunday Times and other publications. He is columnist for Waitrose Food Illustrated. Hardeep was also a member of the judging panel for the Organic Food Awards 2009. He is a Food and Drink Ambassador for Scotland.
As a journalist, his column in Scotland on Sunday called Hardeep is Your Love has seen him twice nominated in 2007 and 2008 for Scottish Columnist of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards. He is also Contributing Editor on the Spectator Magazine, has written for the Independent on Sunday, The Times, Observer Women and Condé Nast Traveller to name but a few. He wrote an essay on education for the George Soros Foundation, and was also a Booker Prize judge in 2008.
Having started his broadcasting career in radio, he still holds the wireless very dear, presenting extensively across Radio 4, from primetime slots like Midweek, Saturday Live to The Food Programme and Pick of the Week. In August 2013, he made a programme for The Food Programme on BBC R4 on the theme of bacon rolls. He has made a plethora of documentaries for Radio 4, with subjects as diverse as the Partitioning of India, Great British Rivers and tight rope walking. Hardeep Singh Kohli’s Alternative Census was broadcast on Radio 4. Hardeep has made documentaries for Radio 2 and 3, and presented across Radio 5 Live. He wrote and presented the acclaimed Radio 2 series, The Great British Faith and has deputised for Aled Jones on Good Morning Sunday.
Hardeep was part of the original team on the highly successful BBC1 programme The One Show reporting the length and breadth of the country on all manner of stories. He toured Britain with his sell-out Edinburgh show The Nearly Naked Chef and his 2010 Edinburgh show Chat Masala. He regularly performs at the Edinburgh Festival.
Hardeep is in demand as an after dinner speaker, awards host and for business and motivational speaking. He’d like to start a new project to create team-building through cooking.
He is patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, an ambassador for the Willow Foundation and sits on the committee of Shelter From the Storm, a North London Homeless Shelter.