Donal MacIntyre

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This article is about the journalist. For the operatic bass-baritone, see Donald McIntyre. For the Victoria Cross recipient, see Donald Macintyre.

Donal MacIntyre (born 1966 in Dublin) is an Irish investigative journalist, specialising in hard hitting investigations, undercover operations and television exposes. He was born in Dublin in 1966 and grew up in Kildare, Ireland and the United States. He has won praise for his courage, and campaigning zeal particularly his consistent work in the area of care homes for the elderly and the learning disabled. He has won awards in the UK, France, Spain and Ireland for his work, but the machismo of his style has also brought some detractors, from traditional journalists and among some people whose activities he had revealed.

The risks of repeatedly going undercover have meant that MacIntyre has increasingly turned to presenting on films where his colleagues have undertaken the undercover work. He has also branched out into more traditional presenting roles, on weather phenomena and wildlife documentaries on BBC TV and Five. He has also made a series of documentaries about leading figures in the British crime scene, MacIntyre's Underworld for Five. His broad range of activities have extended recently into directing where he has made an immediate impact with a cinema release of his Sundance Selected ` A Very British Gangster` and his award winning anti-smoking commercials for the SMOKE IS POISON campaign. This series included the banned `Polonium` commercial that the British Government banned out of sensitivity to the family of the murdered Russian dissident who was killed using the substance.

MacIntyre rose to prominence with his bravura performances as an undercover journalist with ITV and the acclaimed World In Action Strand and the BBC for the documentary strands, On The Line, and Taking Liberties. He received two RTS journalism awards for his 1996 investigations for ITV's World In Action into the links between drug dealers and the private security firms who control night-club doors. MacIntyre lived for 11 months in character, adopting a new name and identity to win the confidence of the criminals he wanted to film.

He was given his own series, MacIntyre Undercover on BBC One, where his exploits among a gang of football hooligans, the Chelsea Headhunters; in care homes for vulnerable people; and in the world of model agencies received widespread publicity. It proved to a major hit and was to transform investigative journalism on television subsequently, by forcing more traditional programmes to improve production values to attract a younger audience.

In 2000, Jason Marriner, a member of the Chelsea Headhunters was sentenced to six years in prison for his part in organizing a fight with supporters of a rival team, based on evidence captured by Donal MacIntyre and his team. MacIntyre was placed under Police protection during the trial. It was the first significant victory against the hooligan fraternity since the flawed attempts at undercover by the Police ten years previously, in the ill-fated own goal trials.

MacIntyre also secured convictions against members of Combat 18 who were later to daub his car with their insignia and force the reporter to move home.

MacIntyre's expose of conditions inside a Kent care home resulted in the closure of one institution and the cautioning of two people for five offences of assault. The Sunday Telegraph subsequently claimed that the programme had been unfairly edited, quoting members of the Kent Police who had investigated the home in the aftermath of MacIntyre's programme. The Kent force subsequently admitted they had libeled the reporter, withdrawing their criticism and paying him costs and damages. MacIntyre has used this case to campaign for MENCAP and Action Against Elder Abuse. He has made three more programmes on this issue since his controversial hit show on BBC1.

His work on Five has won his praise and awards internationally particularly for his Underworld Strand which has put some of the country's most feared criminals under his intimate spotlight. MacIntyre, unable to go undercover, decided to get up close and personal to the very criminals he once exposed covertly. The result is a series of 13 programmes which are now core material on criminology courses and some of the interviews with young gang members are currently on the GCSE English syllabus.

MacIntyre is a keen sportsman and has represented Ireland at World Championship level in canoeing with a top world ranking of 11. He has used this background to branch out into adventure and travel presenting. His Wild Weather series for the BBC has been broadcast around the world and his recent series Edge of Existence for Five saw him live with tribes around the world from the Sea Gypsies of Borneo to the Insect Tribe of Papua New Guinea. He brought the Insect Tribe back to live with his family in London for 'Return of the Tribe' for Five which was regarded as a sensitive and charming experiment in reverse anthropology.

MacIntyre presented 'Street Crime Live' on Britain's Channel Five in 2007.

[edit] Personal Life

In July 2006 Donal married Ameera De La Rosa at Slane Castle in Ireland. They have two children, Allegra (5)(from Ameera's previous relationship) and Tiger Willow McIntyre who was born in 18 April 2007. The baby could also have been named Mira. Donal is a twin. His mother is on the Irish film board and brought up her five children by herself after their father left in 1970. His father, Tom, is a writer and his elder brother Darragh is a reporter for BBC's Panorama. His other brother Dr Tadhg MacIntye and Dr Deirdre MacIntyre are both psychologists.