Andy Davies

Andy Davies in front of an American tank in Iraq

Andy Davies joined Panorama in 2001 from BBC Northern Ireland, where he had spent four years in Belfast reporting for the investigative current affairs programme Spotlight.

One of his first films, "Tackling the Tearaways", followed the remarkable story of David Young, a 16-year-old from Cheltenham who had been banned from his home for 10 years under of the Government's then fledgling Anti-social Behaviour Orders.

"Controlling interview situations was always a challenge, given that my first interview with David had to be aborted after five minutes when the police rushed in to arrest him (for the 39th time)," recalls Andy.

in 2004, Andy has reported on the potential problems with the government's plans to extend licensing hours and on the lottery of the NHS's Continuing Care.

Last year he spent three months following an American squadron around in Iraq for the programme "The Price of Victory". and reported on Britain's readiness to deal with a terrorist attack. Earlier in 2003 he won a Royal Television Society award (home current affairs) and a BAFTA nomination for the "Corruption of Racing", Panorama's high profile investigation into the regulation of horse racing by the Jockey Club.

Exposing the truth

As one of the most unsuccessful kitchen salesmen ever to have operated in the Rhondda Valley, Andy turned to journalism in the mid-1990s.

While studying for a Masters in International Politics, he presented University Radio Nottingham's Campus Reports, winning the 1994 Guardian Student Broadcast Award, before joining the BBC as a News Trainee.

At Nottingham he founded the charity STAR, an international student network which educates young people on issues involving refugees.

Being half Welsh and half South African, the former Classics graduate is tediously passionate about all things rugby. In 1994 he represented Wales in the lightweight coxless pairs at the Commonwealth Rowing Championships in Ontario, Canada.