An investigative journalist, documentarian, and open-water swimmer/crew member. Suzanne Martin operates on a delightful singular premise: if a story is buried under a mountain of legal bureaucracy or submerged in the freezing chop of the English Channel, it’s probably worth pulling it into the light. 

Specializing in public-interest journalism, Martin has made a habit of challenging the institutional opacity of the establishment. She has made a career of showing up precisely where transparency goes to die. She has worked alongside advocates and investigative outlets like The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Ch4 News, ITN News, and Sky News. Her journalistic interventions have helped dismantle draconian reporting restrictions. In a landmark 2024 ruling, she secured permission to identify a convicted serial violent offender within family court proceedings—setting a major precedent for open justice while safeguarding vulnerable individuals. 

Pirogues, Primates, and Seals

Her ironclad resolve was arguably forged in the Republic of Congo, where her film work involved reintroducing rescued Western Lowland gorillas to their natural habitat. 

Transporting the juvenile primates down the waterways of the Congo Basin in pirogues yielded her enduring operational ethos: “If you can transport three gorillas in a canoe, you can do pretty much anything.” It is a philosophy that translates seamlessly from long format investigations, to high-seas navigation. It also leads to some interesting conversations when asked about Kayak experience.

Raised on the Kent coast, Martin treated the English Channel less like an intimidating shipping lane and more like a local plunge pool. That maritime experience led her to serve as an official observer during Sarah Thomas’s historic, non-stop four-way crossing in September 2019—a brutal 54-hour-and-10-minute masterclass in rule enforcement and endurance. 

Martin is also a volunteer Marine Mammal Medic for the British Divers Marine Life Rescue and occasional Seal Uber driver.  

Channel Stories

In November 2026, Martin will unite her journalism and nautical obsession with Channel Stories, a documentary podcast dissecting the eccentricities, geopolitical borders, endurance feats, and personal transformations in the English Channel. Combining insider swimming expertise with sharp narrative journalism, the series frames this infamous stretch of water as what it truly is: a turbulent, living archive of human ambition, and fragility.