Plagiarism row professor ‘said he was on TV’s Seven Up’… before he was born

Cambridge academic Jason Arday, who rose to prominence as the university's youngest black professor, is facing renewed scrutiny after footage emerged of him apparently claiming to have appeared in the long-running television documentary series Seven Up. The 41-year-old was born two decades after the programme first aired in 1964, making the claim impossible, and the row adds to existing questions about his credibility after he admitted errors in his PhD thesis following plagiarism accusations.

In a 2022 talk to the University of Bath's Race Equality Taskforce, Arday said he had been part of a project "called Seven Up at the time" that tracked participants at seven, 14 and 21, claiming he was withdrawn aged 14; the BBC has confirmed he had "nothing to do with our films". A source close to Arday later said the reference was to an unrelated, informally named community initiative for black mothers, not the TV series, and accused critics of taking the remark out of context. The professor, appointed to Cambridge at 37, has also faced doubts over other claimed achievements, including running 600 miles in six days and raising millions for charity, but denies being a "liar".