Colin Tough

Colin Tough (born October 1959 in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire) is Editor in Chief of What's On TV, and Soaplife.

Early life

Tough attended Clydebank High School, where he was head boy in his final year.

Career

Tough, who started his career in Scottish newspapers and edited his first title at 19, moved to London and the magazine industry in 1983. In the early 1990s, he edited the short-lived UK edition of TV Guide, before joining TVTimes as deputy editor and was launch editor of TV & Satellite Week.

Tough launched IPC Media's digital initiative in 1994 and, as new media editor-in-chief and publishing director,^[1] was involved in all of IPC’s early digital projects, including the Milia d’Or award-winning CD-Rom magazine, UnZip,^[2] and the UK's first digital EPG.

In 2002 he edited IPC’s market-leading Web User,^[3] before taking over as editor of Britain’s best-selling magazine, What’s On TV.^[4] Three years later he launched the UK’s first compact TV magazine, TV easy^[5]

Shortlisted 11 times for the British Society of Magazine Editors awards, Tough has won the IPC Media Editor of the Year award in 2001, 2007 and 2012.

In addition to his journalistic work, Tough also devised Sounds Like Music, an afternoon game show which ran for two 26-show series on ITV.

Personal life

Tough is married with a son. His brother is Ian Tough of the comedy act The Krankies.

References

1. "New Head For IPC New Media", Mediatel, 5 May 1998
2. Sophia Chauchard-Stuart, "Jump in, have a quick read, jump out", The Independent, 27 November 1995
3. "Colin Tough to edit Web User", Time Inc press release, January 2002
4. Martin McNamara, "TV listings title gets Tough", The Guardian, May 27, 2002
5. John Plunkett, "IPC's £10m title stirs up TV listings", The Guardian, April 19, 2005