Derek Hobson Northern Ireland born Hobson is a TV and radio broadcaster and journalist, best known as the original host of ITV's New Faces,^[1] which introduced, among others, Lenny Henry, Victoria Wood, Debbie McGee, Jim Davidson, Les Dennis and Michael Barrymore to a Saturday night audience of more than 12 million viewers.

Hobson was also a continuity announcer for ATV in Birmingham and was one of the presenters of the regional news programme ATV Today.^[2]

After leaving ATV, Hobson co-presented Not For Women Only,^[3] a regional magazine programme for TVS, with Jill Cochrane. He also presented and co-created the format for the game show That's My Dog for TSW, which ran for four years on the ITV network from 1984.^[4]

When aged 32, on Tuesday 24 April 1979, he was banned from driving for a year by Stratford-upon-Avon magistrates, when living at 5 Wootton Hall in Wootton Wawen near the town. Warwickshire Police had stopped his car on Guild Street and Birmingham Road in Stratford at 4.05am on Saturday 9 December 1978. The policeman believed that he had been drinking, after Hobson had driven the wrong way around a one-way system of road works.^[5] A sample of urine showed 137mg of alcohol in his urine, 30mg above the legal limit.^[6] He was fined £60 for drink driving, £15 for refusing a breath test, and £10 for ignoring a temporary keep-left sign.^[7][8]