Special recognition: Martin Lewis

In December 2023, BBC Radio 4’s highly regarded The Media Show posed a question that would have seemed unthinkable just a few years ago: is Martin Lewis Britain’s most influential journalist?

Lewis has become a symbol of holding the UK’s corporations and government to account, and fighting the corner for ordinary folk. In many ways, his output – especially MultiStory Media’s The Martin Lewis Money Show Live for ITV1 – has become the epitome of public service broadcasting during the cost-of-living crisis.

It was no surprise, for example, that the new series kicked off in January with a sit-down interview with the chancellor – nor that Lewis’s forensic understanding of economic policy helped him skewer Jeremy Hunt.

Lewis has encyclopaedic knowledge of everything from energy tariffs to lifetime ISAs, widowed parents allowance and childcare benefits, but just as important is his ability to translate that into layman’s terms. Viewers love it when such detailed expertise is expressed so clearly.

The evidence is the ratings for Money Show – between 2 million and 3 million overnight viewers – which has run for a remarkable 13 series. The format has been reinvigorated since it was extended to an hour and permanently switched to a live show during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Live broadcasting makes the most of Lewis’s talents, with detailed monologues segueing into conversations with his audience, and he has now been made a regular presenter on Good Morning Britain too.

Never flustered, always forensic, always empathetic, Lewis has become a major figure in British broadcasting.

On a recent episode of BBC1’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, a panel of Labour voters were asked who they’d like to be prime minister – Martin Lewis came the resounding reply. “He’s got a grip on everything,” said one panellist.

That won’t be happening any time soon, but Lewis’s personal reputation and the slick and smart production of his flagship show mean his influence is only set to grow.