Charles Bowden is a Northumberland farmer's son who read English at Oxford before joining Thomson Newspapers in Newcastle. He was agricultural editor of the Newcastle Journal from 1975 to 1985 when he moved to Tyne Tees Television to produce the weekly farming program they made for ITV. Since 1988 he has worked as an independent producer making more than 150 programs about farming, rural issues, and wildlife for the BBC and regional ITV companies. He launched and edited the quarterly magazine of the Northumberland and Newcastle Society and served on the North-East committee of the National Trust for nine years.