Cathy Rogers (born 28 May 1968) is an English television executive, producer, presenter and musician. She is best known as the presenter of the British reality competition series ''

Scrapheap Challenge ''Scrapheap Challenge'' is a British television show where teams of contestants build a working machine that can perform a specific task, using materials available in a scrapyard. The series features teams of four or five members who are given ...

'' and its American counterpart ''

Junkyard Wars ''Scrapheap Challenge'' is a British television show where teams of contestants build a working machine that can perform a specific task, using materials available in a Wrecking yard, scrapyard. The series features teams of four or five member ...

'', as well as for being the keyboardist and backing singer for the

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

bands Heavenly and

Marine Research Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

. Rogers was born in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England. She studied medicine at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, earning a master's degree in Health Policy. Rogers joined the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

as a producer in the early 1990s, specialising in scientific documentaries, including work on the long-running series ''

Horizon The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...

''. During the same period, she played keyboards and sang vocals in the

twee pop Twee pop is a subgenre of indie pop that originates from the 1986 ''NME'' compilation ''C86''. Characterised by its simplicity and perceived innocence, some of its defining features are boy–girl harmonies, catchy melodies, and lyrics about love ...

group Heavenly. In 1995 Rogers moved to the independent production company

RDF Media Banijay (formerly Banijay Entertainment and later Banijay Group) is a French television production and distribution company which is the world's largest international content producer and distributor with over 120 production companies across 22 ...

, where she helped devise and produced the popular

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

technology

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...

'', known in North America as ''Junkyard Wars''. She appeared onscreen as co-presenter of ''Scrapheap Challenge'' from the second series onwards until 2001 when

Lisa Rogers Lisa Rogers (born 7 September 1971) is a Welsh television presenter. She has appeared in films, television programmes, theatre and radio. Early life While at school, she took jobs in a chocolate factory, as a farrier, and, while studying drama at ...

(no relation) took over, and of ''Junkyard Wars'' for the first three series until replaced by

Karyn Bryant Karyn Elaine Bryant (born December 23, 1968) is an American actress, writer, and television personality. Early life Bryant was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. While in Massachusetts, she completed secondary school at Lawrence Academy ...

. She also created and hosted a related programme, ''

Full Metal Challenge ''Full Metal Challenge'' was a television series made by RDF Media for Channel 4 in the UK and the Learning Channel in the USA. Hosted by series creator Cathy Rogers and Henry Rollins, the show was very similar to Rogers' last show, Scrapheap Ch ...

''. She continued her popular music career as well, playing with the Heavenly spinoff

in the late 1990s. In 2001, Rogers was promoted to creative director at RDF Media's new

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

centre, where she oversaw the company's activities in the United States, including the American versions of popular shows such as '' Faking It'' and '' Wife Swap''. She then ran an olive farm in

Loro Piceno Loro Piceno is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Macerata in the Italian region Marche, located about south of Ancona and about south of Macerata on a hill near the Fiastra stream. It is a medieval centre with a castle (''Castello B ...

, Italy, and set up a tree adoption scheme."Try the olive oil, it's from one's own tree, darling"
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' She published an account of her time in Italy as ''The Dolce Vita Diaries''. In 2009 she returned to RDF Media as creative director.

References

;Notes

External links

*
Guardian article about The Dolce Vita Diaries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Cathy English television executives Women television executives English television producers British women television producers English television presenters English rock keyboardists 1968 births Living people Scrapheap Challenge 21st-century Canadian politicians Alumni of the University of Oxford