Phillip Hodson is a British psychotherapist, broadcaster and author who popularised ‘phone-in’ therapy in his role as Britain's first 'agony uncle'. His afternoon and evening counselling programmes ran on LBC Radio in London for nearly 20 years. Thereafter he worked on Talk Radio

TalkSPORT

Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....

 and with Jimmy Young

Jimmy Young

Jimmy Young may refer to:*Jimmy Young *Jimmy Young , singer -See also:*Jim Young *James Young...

 on BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...

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Television

He was a regular children's counsellor on BBC1 for six years with Saturday Superstore

Saturday Superstore

Saturday Superstore was a children's television series, broadcast on BBC1 from 1982 until 1987. It was shown on Saturday mornings with presenters including Mike Read, Sarah Greene, Keith Chegwin and John Craven. The show was very similar to its predecessor Multi-Coloured Swap Shop.A regular spot on...

and Going Live!

Going Live!

Going Live! was a Saturday morning magazine show, broadcast on BBC1 between 1987 and 1993. It was presented by Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene.Other presenters included Trevor and Simon, Peter Simon, Emma Forbes, and puppet Gordon the Gopher....

presented by Sarah Greene

Sarah Greene

Sarah Greene is a British television personality well known for presenting live TV: long-running series e.g. Blue Peter, from 19 May 1980 until 27 June 1983, Saturday Superstore, Going Live for 10 years and big event/awards shows.- Early life and career :Greene was born in London, England, the...

  and Phillip Schofield

Phillip Schofield

Phillip Bryan Schofield is an English broadcaster and television personality best known for presenting shows such as This Morning, Dancing on Ice, and various game shows including The Cube.-Early life and career:...

, where he was noted for addressing serious juvenile concerns not normally treated on children's television, and for his fine line in chunky knitted jumpers bearing animal designs. Hodson also worked on BBC1 Daytime with Dr Miriam Stoppard for three years dealing with problem phone calls besides psycho-analysing celebrities. He also filled the agony slots in the first years of both TV-Am and GMTV.

Hodson co-presented TV South's afternoon Problem Page for five years and was subsequently given his own interview chat show Hodson Confidential. This ran for three series, and was networked several times. He has also made several documentaries including films for Newsnight on subjects ranging from scandal-prone politicians to whether therapy is replacing religion.

Journalism

"Hodson is one of the few regular contributors to The Times who has also written extensively for the popular press including agony pages for Reveille, The Daily Star, Today and the News of the World. His column also appeared in She Magazine, Woman's World, Cosmopolitan, First Magazine (USA), Family Circle, Fast Forward, TV Quick, Oklahoma Magazine, Woman and Home and Woman's Journal. Hodson won a ‘columnist of the year’ in 1984. He has been an outspoken critic of the ‘stiff upper lip’ attitude of male conservatism - clashing, amongst others, with the sociologist Frank Furedi.

Books, academic and psychotherapy work

Hodson has written 13 books mainly on sex and relationships but also covering the operas of Wagner. His most important is probably Men: An Investigation into the Emotional Male, which accompanied a BBC TV series in one of the first male engagements with the challenges of feminism. He has also taught psychology at graduate level and made training films for Video Arts Ltd about using counselling techniques in the workplace, also winning several industry awards. In addition to his psychotherapy practice, Hodson has been chief spokesperson for the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy since 2000.

Phillip Hodson has been ‘happily unmarried’ to author and psychotherapist Anne Hooper

Anne Hooper

Anne Hooper is a British sex therapist and author, who pioneered therapy groups for women with sex problems in the 1970s and 1980s and who wrote UK newspaper columns on the subject of human sexuality in the 1990s.- Books :...

 for over 30 years with whom he has a son Alex Hooper-Hodson

Alex Hooper-Hodson

Alex Hooper-Hodson is a British journalist and relationship expert. He was the agony uncle of Sugar magazine for six years starting in September 2004 and ending in February 2010. Alex is also the regular weekly sex and relationships columnist for the Scottish newspaper The Daily Record...

 and two stepsons, Barnaby and Joel Levy. All three work in the media, Alex having been agony uncle of Sugar magazine for four years, as well as writing a weekly sex column for the Scottish newspaper the Daily Record

Daily Record (Scotland)

The Daily Record is a Scottish tabloid newspaper based in Glasgow. It had been the best-selling daily paper in Scotland for many years with a paid circulation in August 2011 of 307,794 . It is now outsold by its arch-rival the Scottish Sun which in September 2010 had a circulation of 339,586 in...

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