Woodman is a former financial analyst turned investigative journalist, author and filmmaker. He has written and reported from many parts of the world on a variety of social concerns, ranging from gangs and organised crime, to slavery and smuggling.
Books and writing In 2009, he published his first book,
The Adventure Capitalist, chronicling his experiences trading his way around the globe. His second book,
Unfair Trade: The Truth Behind Big Business, Politics and Fair Trade was published in 2011.
Unfair Trade was long-listed for the 2012
Orwell Prize. Woodman's third book,
Sharks: Investigating The Criminal Heart of the Global City was published by September Publishing in March 2017. ''Meth Road : A life-and-death investigation following the world's most destructive narcotic to Australia'' was published by Allen & Unwin in 2023. Woodman has also written for several newspapers and magazines including
The Guardian,
TNT,
Wanderlust,
Conde Nast and
Wexas Traveller. The second Matt Mason novel,
Survive to Fight was published in June 2022 to widely favourable reviews.
Television In 2009, Woodman presented the
Channel 4 travel and adventure series
Around the World in 80 Trades. The four-part series is based on his book
The Adventure Capitalist. From 2012 to 2014, Woodman hosted two series of the National Geographic Channel show
Scam City, in which he travels to various popular cities around the globe and reveals the darker side of tourism. and in 2015 for Best Factual Series at the
Canadian Screen Awards. Woodman presented two-part
ITV series
Hunting the Doorstep Conmen in 2013. In October, he presented ''Exposure: Britain's Booming Cannabis Business'' for ITV, part of the channel's award-winning
Exposure strand. In 2015, Woodman reported on three episodes of BBC1's flagship consumer affairs show
Watchdog. In August 2016, it was announced that Woodman would host an eight-part series for Channel 4 and History Channel Canada entitled
Hunting Nazi Treasure. The first season aired on History Channel Canada in October 2017. He appeared alongside
The Monuments Men Foundation's
Robert M. Edsel in the program which ended in 2018.
Films In 2014, Woodman produced and directed his first feature documentary film,
True Appaloosa. The film follows Scott Engstrom, an
Appaloosa horse breeder, to
Kyrgyzstan as she tries to track down a horse that she thought looked like an Appaloosa while watching the TV show
Around the World in 80 Trades. Engstrom believed that
DNA from the horse might be able to prove that the true source of the North American Appaloosa horse was Asia and not Europe as the history books claim. In January 2015, a 60-minute version of the film was transmitted on the BBC to critical acclaim. The feature-length documentary premiered at the
Sun Valley, Idaho Film Festival in March 2015. In October 2015, Woodman's dramatic short film
Jester premiered at the Sunscreen West Film Festival in
Los Angeles.
Radio Woodman regularly reports back on his travels for the
BBC current affairs show
From Our Own Correspondent and is also a guest presenter on
Radio 4's
Costing the Earth. ==Personal life==