Henry Cole was educated at Eton and has gone on to forge a career spanning some 42 years in the television and movie industry.

The owner of television production company HCA Entertainment, Henry is best known worldwide as a TV presenter, immersing himself in his lifelong passions for motorcycles, tinkering, shed dwelling and restoring vintage machinery.

Television

Henry currently presents Shed and Buried for Quest and Discovery, Junk and Disorderly for Blaze and ITV, The Motorbike Show for ITV4 and Discovery, and Find It, Fix It, Flog It for Channel 4 and More4.

His other programmes include Find It, Fix It, Drive It for More4 and Discovery, Bids and Pieces for Blaze and ITV, and World’s Greatest Motorcycle Rides for Quest.

As well as presenting, Henry runs the production company responsible for making all the shows he presents, along with a whole lot more that he doesn’t.

Behind the Camera

HCA Entertainment has produced, and Henry has directed, countless factual series for broadcasters including ITV, Channel 4, Sky 1, Channel 5, UKTV, Travel Channel, Discovery Networks, NBC and the BBC.

These programmes include Grimefighters, Kensington Wives, Men Brewing Badly, London’s Greatest Hits, Supersize Grime, The Skulls of Sanctuary, Frontline Stories, Discovering Gardens and The Real Filth Fighters!

Henry has also directed more than 70 television commercials for brands including Flora, Mastercard, Top Up TV, Dixons, Transport for London, Amstrad and many other household names.

Film

Henry has produced and directed television and theatrical movies including Mad Dogs and Englishmen, starring Elizabeth Hurley, C. Thomas Howell and Joss Ackland, and Dead Funny, starring Elizabeth Peña and Andrew McCarthy.

His film work also includes Princess in Love, starring Christopher Villiers and Julia Cox.

Gladstone Motorcycles

Henry is also the boss of Gladstone Motorcycles. It is not named after Henry’s great-great-uncle, former Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, but after his great-uncle Dick “Redbeard” Gladstone.

A true British eccentric, Redbeard inspired Henry’s passion for classic British motorcycles at the tender age of eight. Today, Gladstone Motorcycles manufactures the finest bespoke British custom motorcycles for discerning hooligans.

World Records

In 2013, Henry set a world land speed record for a pre-1955 750cc motorcycle, riding a Brough Superior on the Bonneville Salt Flats. The record remains unbeaten.

Henry and Allen Millyard also held the world land speed record for riding two-up on a motorcycle, recording a speed of 183.45 mph.

Life Beyond Television

Henry speaks publicly about his battle with heroin addiction between the ages of 19 and 24. He is now four decades clean and remains heavily involved in helping other people experiencing addiction, openly sharing what he learned through his own recovery.

Henry also tours the country with his great friend and former Grand Prix motorcycle racer Steve Parrish in the stage show An Evening with Henry Cole. Together, they play around 15 sell-out dates each year in regional theatres throughout the UK.

Machines, Family & Dogs

Alongside motorcycles, Henry is passionate about classic helicopters, classic tractors, American muscle cars, petroliana of every kind and, most importantly, his dogs Jelly Bean and Jelly Tot, his wife Janie, and his two sons Charlie and Tom.

Henry’s Books

Discover more about Henry’s rollercoaster life story, his adventures on two wheels and his love of sheds in his books: A Biker’s Life, The Life-Changing Magic of Sheds and Riding Route 66.

All three titles are available through Amazon and Quercus Publishing.

Frequently asked questions

HCA Entertainment (my production company) is run by a small team of people from an office in one my sheds. Most of the time we're out filming, either in one of the other sheds, or on location.

We receive a huge number of emails and messages on social media from fans and fellow enthusiasts and there isn't time to respond to them all, so we've tried to answer the most commonly asked questions here. Thank you for watching our programmes and sharing our passion.

See Henry On TV for all information about Henry's programmes and where you can see them (including catch-up).

Drop us a line by email with a list of what's in your shed and some photos. Please bear in mind that, for the show to work, we need to see a selection of things we might buy in each location, otherwise there won't be much rummaging or haggling.

EMAIL THE PRODUCTION TEAM

Please check your Junk Mail folder, in case the reply was caught by a spam filter. The production team will always try to respond to emails but so many people get in touch it might be that we weren’t able to help you out.

Unfortunately we can’t answer specific questions about items, locations and music on the shows - Henry and the team make so many programmes we’d need a full time archivist to know every detail

Sorry, but that isn't possible. With 250,000 followers on social media, Henry can’t respond to your comments personally, because it would keep him occupied day and night. The team monitors things and tries to answer most questions.

You’ll find a list of public events that Henry will be attending at Events. Henry is very approachable and always tries to make time to chat with people. Feel free to ask for a selfie, he won’t mind! The same goes for Guy, Allen and Fuzz.

We don’t generally sell items from the shows online, so the best way to buy something from Henry and the team is to visit an autojumble where they have a stall. These are often arranged at short notice, so Follow Henry on Facebook or Instagram for announcements.

Sam Lovegrove is busy restoring two Brough Superior motorcycles that were severely damaged in the 2021 fire at the Top Mountain Crosspoint Motorcycle Museum in Austria.

See Sam explain things in his own words in this clip from The Motorbike Show