The Cook Report - Hot Dog Wars S05E01 (1991) ) ARCHIVED
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.พ. 2025
- This programme in 1991 was prompted by the assassination of Gary Thompson, the millionaire hot
dog and burger overlord of the Midlands. He was murdered as he returned home with tens of
thousands of pounds in takings in the boot of his Rolls Royce. He controlled all the best sites and
those traders who did not meet his terms were subjected to intimidation, violence and fire-
bombings. Thompson’s death sparked all-out war as rivals fought to take over his empire. It was a
prize worth seizing. Over a weekend, big music and sporting events could produce an income of
£250,000.
And the team was to discover, that at small locations - burger stalls on street corners in London and
across the country - gangs were in control and violence was rife. Roger Cook was in the middle of it
and the target of some of it. Some of the characters involved were as bizarre as they were vicious.
In the Midlands, Joe Persico, a man with convictions for kidnap and torture, was a leading contender
to take over the Thompson empire. He first threatened to kill Cook - and then abruptly changed
tack and offered to buy the Cook Report mobile burger van following the publicity the film had given
it. It was an extraordinary programme that exposed the underworld behind the everyday and
produced a huge audience response.
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Roger Cook Reports
This is an independent, not for profit channel celebrating the pioneering investigative work of The Cook Report, its presenter Roger Cook and the team behind him. Nothing like his series was made before or has been made since.
We have acquired most of these episodes unofficially by reaching out to the Great British public. So some of what we’ve found is not the best technical quality and we don’t have the copyright, which belongs to ITV. Do you have any old Cook Report programmes in your VHS collection? If so, we would appreciate it if you would allow us to digitise and share them on the channel. Thanks in advance! Email: rogercookreports@gmail.com
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The Cook Report - Hot Dog Wars S05E01 (1991) ) ARCHIVED 0807am 9.7.24 amazingly absurd and very fucking odd - old roger. i can hear an old school chum desperately willing me to watch this. so i am... fnarr!!!!
I’ll email ‘a coffee’ to you!!
@@MrDastardly Comments on ‘The Cook Report - Hot Dog Wars S05E01 (1991) ) ARCHIVED’ 31.7.24 couldnt send me 3-D print out of some fries and pizza, could you?
@@JJONNYREPP
Today I posted a box of fruit to you. Much healthier than pizza & fries.
@@MrDastardlyComments on ‘The Cook Report - Hot Dog Wars S05E01 (1991) ) ARCHIVED’ 1500pm 7.8.24 i did not receive the fruit or the pizza. one day i might recieve those things - in actuality...
Cook had some balls. Hasn't been an investigative journalist like him since.
Love when that guy in the van stops and he opens the door for him and continues to question him lol
He sure has. He stood when the guy came out his house swinging his baseball bat
Tommy Robinson ..
When I was younger I loved watching Roger Cook it was groundbreaking journalism at the time
Donal Macintyre was close thou.
19:40 Perseco's mullet & leather jacket should have been the red flag of warning!!! Roger Cook was a legend to normal people.
There will never be another Roger cook ever again. I don't think anyone's got balls of steel to do what he did. Used to love watching it with the family when I was a kid. The good old days !
Great points Maureen, we need one of these guys again kind regards.
Even if there was they wouldn’t last 5 mins these days without wearing protective gear etc. This is a far more violent world now
Tommy Robinson has the same guts , just tarred as a racist
@@digitalmediafan I'm not sure that's true. For example the kind of street violence depicted in this episode simply wouldn't happen now thanks to CCTV. All the old duffers in this video would be in jail. Just as well they're all under the sod now, they looked on their last legs in the episode 😅- slovenly people
@@КурочкаКрашена yes cctv everywhere but still the violence around ever more so
I love this, thanks for uploading. I found this unintentionally hilarious at times, if I didn't know it was Roger Cook I'd swear it was a Brass Eye episode!
It’s uncannily similar 👍🤣
I thought it was a a Python sketch "they give me a pony to stick in me sky apples and and pears jellied eels gorgeous blimey"
Super
Mario's gone into the catering trade
My thoughts exactly! It actually reminded me of an episode of the series, The Day Today, when they do a spoof about "underground dentists" > th-cam.com/video/IMhGUhSNKmQ/w-d-xo.html
@@TMxtt Ha ha! I see what you mean!
Amongst the many pointless and worthless videos posted on TH-cam each and every day there are videos like this that really give you a sense of gratitude towards both the people who originally recorded the show/saved the footage and those who upload it on here so people like me who have never seen it before and never would've seen it if not for those people.
Thanks. This gave me an entirely new outlook on all the times I bought food from hotdog and burger vans/stands as a kid.
Agree ! ..
It's something different .
Remember (good) investigative journalism? Macintyre was decent too, alas it died alongside satire, good soap & classic comedy. Yet we need it all more than ever!
Dude me and my gf dropped acid one night a couple of years ago and we watched Bullseye , Gladiators and Noels house party while tripping balls and yeah the 90s TV was absurd
You realise that the way you worded that, it reads as if this video is amongst the many pointless and worthless videos lol
I remember a donut and hotdog van in Great Yarmouth in 1992 and two guys approaching the owner and him saying I know a lot of people in this town mate,I dunno weather they were trying to extort him,but in retrospect and after watching this ,might have been.
The clouseau moustache had me in stitches!🥸😂💯
That's what happens when you mess with the burger king. Hot dogs are the gateway food it's burgers where the real violence lies. That fake tash probably saved Rogers life lol. I'm. Just talking even more shit than I planned on talking. Mushrooms are a funny drug lol.
@@iamthewalruscuckookachoo1372 😆
Me too. "Do you have a license for your hort dergs?"
It struck me how bad everyone looks in the episode - all over weight, all in ill fitting slacks, long greasy hair, all obviously smokers. They're probably all around 40. I doubt any of these skanky thugs had a decent shag in their sorry lives. The incels of their day.
He had some bottle though ,id have just glassed all 4 of em ,but he had incredible restraint
Turkish Dave invested the profits from Hot Dogs into Heroin importation. His eldest son got caught bringing back a lorry of smack about 1998 . Westminster Council started to clamp down on illegal street trading about 1998 when the Kosovan / Albanian lot turned up & started causing trouble. Prior to that it was a handy little number for the traders with the guarantee to make £200 a night profit per worker every Friday and Saturday night in the West End. They kept the Hot Dog 🌭 trolleys in a garage in Tottenham Court Rd which also doubled up an illegal gambling den after work was over at Dawn.
You wouldn't recognise that area of Tottenham Court Road now. All got flattened first in the late 90s for redevelopment, and then the rest for Crossrail. It's a completely different world now - none of those garages or the dodgy hifi shops near Hanway Street, the Blue Posts pub is gone.
Then again, having seen the state of it in this video, maybe it's not a bad thing that it's gone...
Instead of hotdog stands being used as a front now it seems it's barber shops and nail bars.
Dripping of the 90’s. Love it!
Great era
A genuine unsung hero of British television. Nobody would have the balls to do it these days.
Have there phones out 🤣😂 good result yesterday 💪
Toon Army haway man
BBC and co wouldn't even have the balls to broadcast anything like this.
Imagine if he did a documentary on the evil regime that owns Newcastle! Would love that.
When journalism is done properly it is amazing to watch. I’ve never seen this show before , I’m about to binge !! What a bad ass
That was fantastic. Initially I wasn’t sure if this was a modern day mockumentry.
Roger was a rare breed even TV didnt show half the stuff ,he got beaten up many times
impersonated an arab sheik once that was hilarious ,i do miss that show
@@mcfcguvnors what is the name of the sheik episode ? Is it online ? From what I have seen Roger is very brave, a top class investigative journalist
Thought it was Bubbles
@@Teeveepicksures a spookily accurate comment
Remember watching it in 1991 with my late auntie Mary. Her reaction to “who is this young man with the colourful language?” was to laugh and say “that’s one way of putting it!”
Brilliant TV entertainment with a serious message of taking on the bad guys.
Classic!
People who have worked in a field for years always know more about it than new comers who expect to walk in and make a fortune over night
Super Mario should stick to looking for the princess
@@michaelharrison3602 she's in a another hot dog van 😁
These are some of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen. Thanks so much for uploading!
Thanks Emma.
@@rogercookreports Is there still plenty to come?
Yu single emma
@@javidrashed2553 nopeeeeee just like a good documentary lol.
Wanted hear yur nice voice
This man had more guts, integrity and journalistic ability than the entire bloody BBC has now.
He had more guts than the BBC *ever* had!
@@richardgray131185 true!!
@@richardgray131185The BBC was never about guts, it was about keeping cushy jobs and salaries.
He stitched Scargill and Co up with lies
You of course are aware he used to work for the BBC and was lured away to ITV
I used to hate The Cook report growing up as a kid...But man i love it.I need this back
I watched this when it came out. Very impressive - he is dealing with violent people and he does not look scared at all.
Just because he didn’t look like he was scared doesn’t mean he wasn’t scared..
@@davidbillyard6629 agreed. I have rephrased my original comment.
@@davidbillyard6629 Well he doesnt jump or stumble, his voice doesnt waver, he keeps his train of thought and continues to talk steadily and deeply on point.
Just found this. What a gem used to love watching this as a kid . A+++++
Great series never to be equalled.Thanks for uploading.
Roger was as convincing in disguise as Jeremy Beadle and Batman.
But twice as tough and entertaining
Tash looks ridiculous
What about that american columbo
Proving it didn't take much to fool these people.
I forgot how brilliant these cook report programmes were, brilliant, just brilliant. Thanks
You can’t get any better than Rodge… what a legend.
When tv was worth watching, now its complete and utter dross and this would be too offensive for people.
Rodge? His nickname was Cookie.
Nobby Anderson went from nought to cockney is 3 seconds. Thought he was going to attack roger with some jellied eels lol
Eels, eels. Eels inside ya, finding an entrance where they can.
Nobby was putting on a posh accent, then, slipped to his common one.
He got away with it making loads of money
@@stephenhumphrey7935 He’d hit him so hard his legs would turn into trombones.
He went full Michael Caine.
This was really great man. I yearn for the old days. This reminds me of my childhood.
All the old fashion gangsters are the funniest thing about all of this. The man who said he fiddle his taxes etc but he wouldn't lie to you. Made my day
Very brave man indeed. Its amazing this pond life exists so openly, stopping decent law abiding people from making a living.
Yeah Rodger took some thumping's as well 👊
The reason why they were stopping decent law abiding people from making a living, one word greed, those gready Scumbags wanted it all for themselves,
And they're all immigrants, most of them illegal.
Grubby foreigners...
Great video! Love this channel. I do wish they could find the Conrad Jones episode though
Dunno what’s more shocking the fact that people are getting violent over hot dogs or that Cook willingly sported that moustache. 😂
It's not that shocking, people get greedy whenever there is good money to be made, and do whatever it takes to make the most.
don't google the ice cream wars...
@@Nosferdamusbeat me to it!
Back in the days when ITV still made proper investigative shows, Now we have to make do with love island and other such crap television has definitely declined over the years,,
Back in the day when silly tory twats kept voting for turkey christmas dinners.
cant be bothered to watch itv or bbc no load of crap.
You mean you still watch TV? Incredible
The opening titles and the insane moustache could have you believe that this was a spoof. But Cook had a *massive* set of cojones - something that many so-called journalists these days should be emulating. Proper, real journalism done right.
i literally thought it was lol
Made me think of The Day Today.
Still alive at 82 now. Hope he’s well
19:41 and then Joe Persico himself. A violent, unpredictable, even an unstable man.... as he sips from his orange Caribbean twist with extra ice.
High as fuck…😂😂😂
@@fredyscanlan Sophisticated Greek...
@@paulgould7420he was Italian
Got some real nostalgia from a Leicester gone by and which is relegated to history: I could almost taste the overly cold lager and the buzz and fun of the nights out; ears ringing when you get back. Obviously a dark subject matter but still from a better time-when people spoke to each other instead of being glued to their phones.
The best Episode yet thanks for uploading 🙌
Mr Cool a true gentleman ,off to watch some more.
Thanks for the upload 👍
How could I forget this man. What a brave dude he was
Yes, thank CHRIST he was there to take down the hotdog criminals.
@@VambeefcoHorzey Never underestimate the far reaching treachery of the common Hotdog Criminal
Roger's disguise makes him look like Bubbles from The Trailer Park Boys.
Cheered me up that
This is greasey 😂😂
😂
Yes Yes Yes
Cookin' up greasy fuckin burgers at the dirty burger
bring back the cook report!!!!! i know roger cant do it but we need someone with balls!!
Jasper Carrott
"Alan Partridge investigates, like the cook report only with a more slap stick approach"
@@ajaydahl we are here to investigate the big boys on farms, do they feed beefburgers to swans?
TR does it.
I cant believe that guy runs the whole planet and still has time to sell hotdogs. 😮😮
And no one pointed out his silly tache had divested the scene of any gravity the show wanted to project......
@@JJONNYREPP did you drop your sense of irony into the hot dog water?
@@David-og7di Comments on ‘The Cook Report - Hot Dog Wars S05E01 (1991) ) ARCHIVED’ 1047am 15.7.24 there's nothing ironic about roger's tache. i am surprised, though, that the bad lads didnt just laugh at him and he run away.... there is a certain dumbness about these folk. being told this that and the other.... and still adhering (sic) to the same old script.... good telly, though. surprised he didnt undertake a study of the NHS abuses as meted out by the ambulance service and staff etc - wherein everything's cool and you say all the right things to be allowed to get on with your life - nothing short of a firm, really...
@@JJONNYREPP The irony is that he's wearing a disguise, but it doesn't disguise him at all. It's all a statement that says he's not hiding (or afraid of anyone).
What's your gripe with NHS ambulance staff (- genuine question)?
@@jonnamechange6854 Comments on ‘The Cook Report - Hot Dog Wars S05E01 (1991) ) ARCHIVED’ they tired to run me over several times and, like the police, juts mither the eff outta folk for no reason... other than mistaken identity or due to their having a personal grievance to settle which....one surmises is the reason they join those various services, anyhow...... not so the wanderer who gets pised thru having to walk to no end to sate some innate desire these folk have to disparage constantly... but no matter the stoic suggests grin and bear it - which, i suppose, a stoic would suggest should be the case... stereotypical notions suggest that dude in the suit can't be walking all that way to no end.... he say: he's getting a big enough run up, which is odd...
Remember the episode when he confronted some mercenaries who had killed their commander...Roger Cook had no fear...absolute legend.
My father and I were talking about this yesterday and now it’s on my TH-cam. They are listening to our conversations
It was posted over a year ago and you commented 12 days ago. 😂
@@Kevinacharles Is it oh ha ha ha that’s so funny
@@3rdeyegeneral don't get your knickers in a twist.
This guy is the goat of investigative journalism in my books!
lol I really love the editing on this. Reminds me of my childhood lol
This is the kind of journalism needed these days not a bunch of mouths hiding behind a paper or website ...
Remember watching this episode right back in the day
That disguise is legendary
I was expecting Arthur Daily to pop out from behind one of the lock ups, towards the end 🤣
I was expecting Ken Dodd
Well.. it’s her indoors ain’t it?
Ooh gawd maim em terry
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I was expecting a sesame street character to tell me which letters and numbers had been featured in the show.
Very good. Please upload more!
This is real journalism.
33 Years ago today: What a Way to Kick Off (Arguably) The Cook Report's Golden Run with (arguably) it's Best theme Music!🤩🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟, Seriously, on Monday the 8th of April 1991, 12.5 Million Viewers tuned in to see Roger Cook tackle Illegal Fast Food Sellers!
Great show. I always dreamed of a similar BBC show but with a more slapstick approach
Arm wrestling with chas and dave?
Monkey Tennis?
One of the best investigative journalists we ever had in the UK- completely selfless, utterly dedicated to exposing the truth and willing, on more than one occasion, to take a good beating in the name of revealing some thoroughly unpleasant people, be they pedophiles, thieves, gangsters or just wanna-be villains.
oh look .........no surprise at the aggresers even in 1991 yet it still does not sink in !!!!!
Proper journalism
Balls of steel. Roger Cook had numerous death threats and even contracts put out on him. Haven't seen anyone like him since and unlikely to do so
The shine on that Volvo 740….. loverly
Best quote at 17:50: “Its a dog eat dog world out there”.
Not enough likes 😂
This was the quality of journalism back in the day.
Brilliant series, remember it at the time. Had a shell suit also 😂
I'm from Australia. I haven't really heard of Cooke before and stumbled upon this.
It's amazing.
Come to England it's great you can get hair on a rubber boat and get everything mobile phone new trainers housing doctors dentist appointment and even a day off work 😂, 🚬 I'm coming to Australia next week do i need to worry about warm clothes or anything else just incase 🎉
Anybody else thing he looks like Jim out of Friday Night Dinner with that fake Tash
The man had balls of kryptonite
"...Jackie..."
I had no idea 1991 was such a dangerous time.
Oh yeah
70s, 80s, and 90s
If we had social media back then we'd think that present day is delightfully peaceful.
Multiple aunts uncles etc have said the old days were safer.
I wouldn't relish getting into the hotdog business myself!
You should it's the mustard 😂
I don't think I'd cut the mustard
Yea LOL
though seriously things have changed since 1991
Don't get mustard!
I found myself constantly playing ketchup.
LMAO at the idea of the hot dog stands being taken into court as evidence
If u seen the guys selling honey roasted nuts allover london, the unit they work on costs 120£ quid, council comes takes it away and all the geezer does next is order another one immediately
Yeah we know .......... Brilliant on the Face Reporting ........... Welldone Roge an Crew
Who feels like a hot dog 🌭 after watching this ? 😋
Food advertising.
Onions and mustard on mine, please
I felt like one of these 18:23
Series 5 of what was one of the biggest shows on tv at the time,And all it took was a slug across Rogers's top lip to deceive these ppl
10:10 boaby from the clansman before a became a pub landlord
two Hot Dogs PRICK
This was very interesting. A follow up to this would be great. A where are they now would also be great. See who won out in the end.
McDonald's won
When Roy Norris came on camera, I fucking lost it.😂😂.
I had to goggle this and make sure it wasn’t some Brilliant British Humor.
Watching this years later it's like something by Armando Ianucci.
That shell suit at the end. Magic
Jesus lol!! The bad guys of the early 90's really did look and sound proper slimy, dodgy and obviously crooked. Almost like they'd been cast on purpose 😂.
Yeah like stereotypical villains hahah
Loved this show
Yes new ones keep coming
Simply the best investigative journalist of all time' never been equalled
u
sad thing is, it still goes on. My former work mate and her husband was in the catering business, and they had the same troubles. To the point that their trailer was stolen from site and stripped, just to put them out of business. Also the motor sport racing event thing, that still happens too, one cater was promised a good pitch, he was just tossed down a very quiet section. He said he wouldn't return next year, and he never. When you go to these events, most of the venders have more than one burger gaff on the site, so any small independent, hardly gets a look in sadly. When i go, i always give the Independent dealers the business. i remember to this very day, i made a Scottish cater her day. She was looking bored, no customers etc. Me and my dad went up to her, ordered a few things, She got a surprise to see £10 note, might have been the highest the poor lass had took, that morning. We went back there again the next day, and she was doing a little better. Ended up seeing her in the same spot a few times after that, during the years.
This was must see TV back in the day. How Cook never managed to get himself kneecapped is beyond me.
Love how the server licks his fingers at 9 minutes.
This is almost satirical. It's got a great potential for a good plot for Peter Kay Sitcom.
‘ Peter Kay presents ; The ice cream man cometh “ might be what you’re looking for. There’s a full episode on here.
I was just going to make reference to That Peter Kay thing. There is something on BBC iPlayer to date called 'Ice Cream Wars' I had to turn it off because I could not take it seriously!!
@@ElleNigma2607 It did end up with 6 people from the same family dead and a prison escape where the bloke super-glued himself to Buckingham palace gates
Yeah totally! I'm watching it at work with the sound down. It feels like I'm watching a Mockumentary!
Absolutely, sometimes with the poor video it looked like undercover footage from an old episode of Brass Eye. Something like the illegal dentists working under the bridge at night. Hilarious stuff!
My dad rented a railway arch in Leyton to a Greek fella that made the mobile hot dog trolleys continuously, because they were constantly being destroyed
YOU KNOW WHO I AM! I'M ROGER COOK! CENTRAL TELEVISION! WHAT A LEGEND! SOME UNSAVOURY CHARACTERS!
These were the days, great TV
AUGUST 2024
Roger Cook a genuine guy who should have been Knighted for his services to dangerous TV.
It's a sad fact, that in our today's world we don't have a guy like him anymore.
Salute to Roger Cook, the guy who exposed them on National TV.
🇬🇧Ⓜ️🇬🇧🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
Thanks for your efforts finding and uploading these, but any chance you could make your logo less obtrusive? It now covers up on-screen text about who the interviewee is.
It's only there as the only version I could source has timecode - hence the less obtrusive cover. 'The entire Cook Report archive was lost in a massive fire that destroyed the Iron Mountain data storage facility in London in July 2006, along with the records of some 600 other businesses.'
A fire destroyed the archives? Sounds suspicious! Maybe Roger Cook should investigate!
@@DodgeyBoy-qq8kf The fire which destroyed all archives was right after a Cook Report on an MP touching up male assistants - and David Cameron was very high up in Central TV at the time ! LOL Suspicious is not the word !!!!!!!!!
@@DodgeyBoy-qq8kf I recall hearing an interview with Roger Cook where he said he did think it was suspicious.
Christ this I remember this one from the first time round getting old 😂
I remember this coming out and I had just bought my first snack bar , in Edinburgh, I lasted 25 years and the only problem I had was with the customers, who thought they were gourmet chiefs and done my head in, I packed it in because I was going to batter the shite out of them at the end. 🤣🤣
You go to a snack bar to fulfill your need for grease, salt and deliciousness. Why would someone think they were getting a gourmet meal in a brown sauce soaked napkin? 😊😊
@@Landie_Man well here's the result of buying one , a Rolex watch, a Mercedes, a bungalow, two Harley Davidson's and being able to walk into a shop and not having to bother about the price of things, oh and to bring up three children and them not wanting for anything... I wonder why I bothered ehhh .yaa melt .🤣🤣🤣
@@hootsmon4723 I was actually on your side and being supportive of you, not the stupid customers! I was saying why would they think they knew more than you 😂. I knew it was very lucrative and congrats on doing well!
@@Landie_Man well to tell you the truth, after I had made my reply, I kinda guessed that, but was to lazy to delete it .🤣🤣🤣 my apologies sir .😁😁😁
@@hootsmon4723 it’s fine mate. There’s a lot of guys out there who would genuinely try to look down on it, but I can tell it’s hard graft doing snack vans so hats off to you sir. I can’t imagine how stressful festivals are, you probably need a entire roster of people to do that 😳. Must be some sleepless nights happening when you’re spending thousands on a pitch.
Some amazing characters back then. I miss my country.
Hiding behind that moustache, you would never know it was him. Absolutely remarkable 😂😂😂
Back when the television had programs on worth watching.
wow such a cliche thing t say. every generation says that
@@paulelroy6650 yeah but its true .
If we still had journalists like Roger Cook, people would still take journalists (and journalism) seriously.
That bloody moustache 😂
Quite shocking, never appreciated the sheer level of skulduggery and mafioso culture in what i considered
'innocent 'street food trading.
Roger Cook had balls of steel, no nonsense and got to the heart of the matter without trying to be smug or cool like many do nowadays.
Great TV and thanks for the upload.
Illegal hotdog sellers paying no tax, just a £100 fines.
Sounds like the tory party.
All.parties.
How because of the tax dodging? What a rubbish joke lol how does the hot dog selling have any relation to them 😂
Back when ITV
used to report news, now they try to hide the truth and shut down comment sections they know people will speak the truth in. Disgrace
He was good at what he did for sure. These nasties need taking down and putting in their place! And we need more people just like him in today's world to sort the nasties out.
Immediately pressed like when the intro music started
Roger makes a great hot dog.
That's what she said 🤣
Did Roger Cook ever receive an OBE? It's not too late to give him one and, out of so many who should have never received one in the first place by comparison.
Roger put his safety on the line many times.
“Our files are in the hands of the police”. Cut to the final scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark.