Catherine Freeman

Catherine Sheila Freeman (née Dove, formerly Wheeler) was born on 10 August 1931 in Penang and passed away on 15 July 2020. She was a British television producer known for her work on programs including Panorama and for her role as a diplomatic hostess.

Freeman's early life began in Penang. Her husband returned to the United Kingdom, where he became a producer on the pioneering current affairs series Panorama in 1956. During her husband's tenure on the program, he traveled to Hungary to cover the events associated with the Hungarian Uprising. He filmed the Hungarian people's reaction to the rebellion while in the country, and they worked to persuade the BBC to give prominence to the story. The Hungarian Uprising was ultimately suppressed shortly after his return to Britain when the Warsaw Pact invasion of Hungary occurred.

In 1957, Freeman participated in the BBC April Fools' Day prank which reported on the harvest of spaghetti from trees, claiming workers in Italy were harvesting the pasta. She took credit for her involvement in this hoax. During her tenure at Panorama, the program transmitted several groundbreaking broadcasts, including the first British footage of a childbirth and the use of the word "fuck" on television, marking an expansion of content boundaries.

In 1962, Freeman remarried to John Freeman, a former Member of Parliament. In 1965, he was appointed High Commissioner to India by the government of Harold Wilson. Subsequently, he served as the British Ambassador to the United States. During this period, Freeman ceased her television work and became a host in New Delhi, where she and John Freeman had three children. She participated in a relief effort during the Bihar Drought in 1967 by writing a report for the UK government and raising funds to build wells in drought-affected areas.

Throughout her time in India, Freeman engaged with numerous prominent figures, including Richard Nixon, whom she reportedly disliked. After her divorce from John Freeman in 1976, she resumed her television career, working not for the BBC but for Thames Television. She eventually became the controller of documentaries at Thames. Later, she secured support from Channel Four Television Corporation for a documentary series titled "Citizen 2000," which followed children from birth through to age majority.

Freeman also served on committees of the Arts Council, contributing to various cultural and media initiatives.