‘I’m back’: Denham Hitchcock announces return to Channel 7’s Spotlight

Former Seven presenter Denham Hitchcock has announced his return to air, two years after calling it quits to go sailing with his family.

Former Seven presenter Denham Hitchcock has announced his return to air, two years after calling it quits to sail around the Pacific Ocean with his family.

Hitchcock, a TV journalist of nearly 30 years, was instrumental in shaping the network’s Spotlight program before stepping away in January 2023.

Sharing a photo of himself in front of the Seven logo to Instagram on Tuesday, Hitchcock said it was “time to wash some of the salt out – and get back to what I do best”.

“Back in 2019 the network asked me to start what would eventually become the Spotlight program with one producer and one cameraman – and as the limited shows proved successful – the team quickly grew and it would turn into the network’s flagship program,” he wrote.

“I stepped away for a few years to go sailing with the family – and have returned to find a new EP, a new team, new reporters, a fresh energy, an abundance of stories, and some genuine excitement about the year ahead.”

Denham Hitchcock has announced his return to 7News Spotlight. Picture: Instagram/@denhamhitchcock

Hitchcock with his wife Mari and their daughter Kaia. Picture: Instagram/@denhamhitchcock

According to TV Blackbox, Hitchcock will “likely” return to Spotlight as a producer at first, helping to steady the ship after a tumultuous 12 months for the current affairs program.

He and his wife Mari, along with their daughter Kaia and newborn son, recently moved back to Sydney.

Hitchcock called on his Instagram followers to “send me your story ideas via DM”, adding: “And yes. That includes Covid” – in what seemed to be a nod to his being hospitalised with a side effect of the Pfizer vaccine in August 2021.

At the time, Hitchcock wrote that he’d “battled over whether” to share his experience with pericarditis – inflammation of the heart – “but decided after 27 years of being a journalist who’s primary goal is to discover the truth – it would be hypocritical not to”.

“I’m NOT anti-vax. But I’m really not pro vax either. I’m pro choice – and pro information to make that choice,” he captioned an Instagram post of himself in hospital.”

Hitchcock was hospitalised with pericarditis, a side effect of the Pfizer Covid vaccine, in August 2021. Picture: Instagram/@denhamhitchcock

Hitchcock then reportedly landed in hot water with his employer over a 22-minute video post on his Instagram about adverse Covid vaccine reactions – heavily editing the wording after Seven stepped in.

A portion of the original caption read: “As I’ve said form [sic] the start, I’m not anti-vax, I’m pro choice, and pro information, no matter how uncomfortable that information might be.”

But just hours later he amended the caption to read in part: “As I’ve said before I’m not anti-vax – I’m pro choice and pro information – I’ve been encouraged by the intelligent back and forth on these threads, and hope this will help with the conversation.”

He went on to amend the caption of a 22-minute video addressing ‘uncomfortable’ information around adverse vaccine side effects. Picture: Instagram/@denhamhitchcock

The accompanying video – in which he spoke to the Therapeutic Goods Administration's (TGA) Professor John Skerritt and epidemiologist Catherine Bennett about adverse Covid vaccine reactions – had also been edited down from 22 minutes to just 14 minutes.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Seven bosses advised Hitchcock to remove his editorialising of the issue “to make the video more balanced and in line with public responsibility”.

The revised video was titled “Vaccine Q and A”.

“I’ve received a lot of information since having a reaction to the pfizer vaccine, and some of the most concerning messages have been surrounding online posts over the reported reactions to the TGA,” he wrote.

“It seems no one is really addressing it, so this video is about that.

“This replaces an earlier post that had a lot of mixed figures and many people found it confusing. Apologies!”

Originally published as ‘I’m back’: Denham Hitchcock announces return to Channel 7’s Spotlight