At Hot Tin Roof, we have more than a century of combined experience in the industry, from writing for and editing national newspapers, to television news reporting and public relations.
As such, our team members have interviewed everyone from Prime Ministers to Nobel laureates, Oscar winners to captains of industry, but they’ve also taught those who engage with the media how to present themselves and their work.
Meet the team…
David Lee
David Lee spent 20 years in senior positions at daily newspapers and now hones his interviewing skills as a regular conference host and podcast presenter. He specialises in a variety of topics, including technology, legal affairs and sustainability. David continues to write and edit, and to offer PR and public affairs advice. Outside work, he loves being on the water with Eskmuthe Coastal Rowing Club – both as a rower and a cox – and
is an enthusiastic footballer of declining ability.
Roddy Scott is a film producer, PR executive and former STV journalist with 20 years of experience in the video and broadcast industry. He has covered everything from nationally significant news stories to the launch of Viagra flavoured ice cream. He considers Joan Rivers to be his favourite interviewee and Mike Tyson as one of his toughest. As an accomplished film producer, Roddy managed the big screen content for
Roddy Scott
both the Men’s Cricket World Cup and the Netball World Cup in 2019. When not working, Roddy loves a good movie and enjoys (most of the time) watching Scotland play rugby.
Peter Rancombe
Peter Ranscombe cut his teeth during nine years with The Scotsman newspaper before going freelance in 2014. His freelance work for The Press & Journal newspaper saw him named “Journalist of the Year: Nations & Regions” at the 2022 Wincott Awards and “Business writer of the Year” at the 2022 Highlands & Islands Media Awards. He has written for leading titles including The Times, Scottish Field, The Lancet, and Decanter.
Jill Brown
Jill Brown was a producer, reporter and presenter with STV and has worked on a freelance basis in radio for the BBC and presents and produces documentaries. Jill is also a musician; she established Scotland’s first record label for ex-offenders, Conviction Records, and is often interviewed herself for radio, TV and in print, about this work. She draws on her journalistic and performance skills when delivering media training, taking use of voice and body language into account as well as content. She also boxes, following in the footsteps of her professional boxer grandfather, so don’t surprise her with a tap on the shoulder!
Suzy Powell
With over 35 years of experience in journalism and public relations, Suzy Powell has extensive knowledge of media and communications in a fast-changing environment and wrote and delivered the media training programme for lawyers through the Law Society of Scotland. Passionate about plain English, Suzy translates scientific research and development for a broad audience, sharing the good news far and wide, as well as giving advice on simple and effective messaging.
Nick Drainey
Nick Drainey is one of the most prolific writers on rural Scotland, covering issues from the diversification of sporting estates to the threat of leatherjacket beetles to sheep grazing. He writes regularly for The Scots Magazine as well as national newspapers and is used as an expert by BBC Radio Scotland. He combines his professional and personal passions by running the popular Walking Scotland Facebook group (9000+ members) and writing walking guides (he has four published and is currently working on three more). He is PR manager for the Scotland’s Finest Woods Awards and was formerly News Editor for The Times Scotland and The Scotsman.
Andrew Mulligan
Finally, Andrew Mulligan has 20 years of experience in the video and broadcast industry, working on TV shows, social media and corporate marketing. He is skilled in producing, filming and editing content.
If you think your team could benefit from our workshops, then please get in touch at [email protected]. These people did and they seem pretty happy with the service we delivered…
“It’s a challenge for fast-growing businesses like ours to carve out time for media training – but I’m so pleased we did. David and the team were patient and professional – and explained clearly how the training related directly to Optima’s business growth. As well as benchmarking our capacity to deal with media interviews as a senior team, the session focused our minds on how we communicate what we do more effectively. I’d thoroughly recommend David and the team to other businesses looking to put a laser-focus on how to communicate what they do.”
Alan Crawley CEO, Optima Partners
“David created an excellent bespoke media training programme for more than 30 academics. He set the scene very clearly and then crafted very relevant and realistic scenarios to test their ability to explain complex research in a straightforward and engaging way.”
Fiona Duff, Marketing and Communications Manager (Research), Heriot-Watt University
“I found the training invaluable in giving specific, tailored feedback and areas to work on. I had positive feedback about my voice modulation and pacing, but seeing my recorded self showed me aspects of my non-verbal behaviour I wasn’t previously aware of and wanted to change. So, I was able to make an informed choice about what areas of my performance I wanted to keep, what I wanted to discard and what I wanted to add to. I especially appreciated learning how to speak to the camera and to speak to an interviewer. The training was tailored to my level, so – as someone relatively experienced in media work – I was given more challenging questions.”
Professor Thusha Rajendran National Robotarium
