Hardeep Singh Kohli

Hardeep Singh Kohli is a writer, presenter, broadcaster and reporter of Punjabi Sikh descent from Scotland.

Hardeep Singh Kohli's parents came to the UK from India in the 1960s. His mother was a social worker, and his father a teacher.

He was raised into a tenement-living family and was initially schooled at Hillhead Primary School in the West End of Glasgow. The family then moved to their own house in Bishopbriggs, and Kohli then moved to Meadowburn Primary. Aged eight, his parents could afford to move their children out of state schooling to be educated by the feepaying Jesuits at St. Aloysius College, a Roman Catholic school in central Glasgow. To finance their family through private school, Kohli's parents ran a corner shop. Kohli gained eight As in his O-grades, and four As and a B in his Highers.

While studying, Kohli managed a few restaurants and began working as an Usher at the Citizens Theatre - where his love of playwright Arthur Miller began.

After graduating, he was hand-picked for the prestigious BBC Scotland graduate production trainee scheme, which involved two years of training.

He moved to BBC Television Centre, London to direct Children's TV, and then series direct from Manchester on Janet Street Porter's series Reportage. He returned to London to direct RTS and BAFTA winning show It'll Never Work.

Kohli left the corporation in 2000 to begin working independently. He is known for writing, directing and starring in Channel 4's Meet the Magoons in 2004. The show was nominated for a Golden Rose at the Montreux Comedy Festival.

Kohli wrote, produced and presented the RTS nominated documentary In Search of the Tartan Turban for Channel 4, which explored cultural identity as a Briton and a Scot belonging to an ethnic minority. It won a children's BAFTA and spun off into a daytime Channel 4 series, Hardeep Does... that covered a variety of different topical issues: sex, religion and pets. He went on to write and presented A Beginner's Guide to Scientology.

In January 2007, Kohli had a three-part series on Channel 4, £50 Says You'll Watch This, exploring gambling. The show involved Kohli taking part in a celebrity card game, visiting casinos in Las Vegas and losing a substantial chunk of his fee through his inability to gamble successfully.

In October 2006 and February 2007 he appeared on the BBC political panel programme Question Time.

An occasional presenter on Newsnight Review, Saturday Live on BBC Radio 4 and guest presents on Loose Ends.

Kohli writes a column entitled Hardeep is your love for Scotland on Sunday, and has since March 2007, covering topics as diverse as suspicions that he is a terrorist and being ashamed of enjoying Harry Potter. He also occasionally writes for The Guardian and The Independent.

Kohli wrote a book about food and travel in India and appeared as a regular reporter on BBC1's The One Show.

Kohli was Man Booker Prize judge for 2008.