| Rogue Traders | |
|---|---|
Rogue Traders presenters Matt and Dan |
|
| Genre | Consumer |
| Presented by | Matt Allwright Dan Penteado |
| Narrated by | Matt Allwright |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30–60 Mins (Original format) 60 Mins (Watchdog format) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC One |
| Original airing | 2001–2009 (Main show), 2009 – Present (As part of Watchdog) |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Watchdog (since 1980) Rogue Restaurants (2008) |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Rogue Traders is a prime-time BBC One presenter-led investigative consumer affairs television series starring Matt Allwright, an investigative journalist and presenter and his side-kick, Dan Penteado who also works as a private investigator around Europe and the UK. Rogue Traders began in 2001 and has run for nine series on BBC One.[1] Allwright and Penteado film and script much of the series themselves, resulting in an improvised, 'on the hoof' feel to the show. An occasional catchphrase used during the show is "We never give up."
The pair secretly film unscrupulous door-to-door tradesmen and salesmen using hidden cameras and actors playing the "victim" (often elderly widows) and then use their evidence to confront them at the end of the programme. They usually use an honest tradesman to provide expert knowledge. Using this technique the programme has "named and shamed" many businesses and individuals who had previously evaded sanction.
Among others, they have investigated the dubious working practices of double-glazing companies, second-hand car dealers, gas fitters, mechanics, roofers, plumbers and domestic rubbish collectors.[2]
Allwright and Penteado originally used a Honda Super Blackbird motorcycle to travel from one place to another, and they are usually wearing biking leathers throughout the half-hour programme. The bike has now been changed to a Kawasaki ZZR1400.
In the fourth series, Allwright upped the stakes by using a disguise, being made up as a seventy-year old Welsh man, Roger. He therefore fooled the "rogues" that he was Roger for some time before revealing his true identity. From the fifth series onwards, Matt Allwright has gone one step further and now has a choice of disguises. He can be made up into 22 year-old rocker Joe, middle aged eco-warrior Bob, the elderly Stan, or Jimmy, a "non-specific Eastern European builder".
On 2 August 2008, a six-part spin-off show was launched called Rogue Restaurants, where Matt Allwright and Anita Rani investigate and secretly film restaurants across the UK in order to expose illegal and dangerous practices by restaurant managers and staff.
Since 10 September 2009, a new one-hour revamp of the programme Watchdog began airing, incorporating Rogue Traders investigations into it.