Matthijs van Nieuwkerk

About

Few Dutch TV personalities have shaped the country's cultural conversation quite like Matthijs van Nieuwkerk. Born in Amsterdam, he started out in journalism at Het Parool and co founded the football magazine Hard Gras in 1994, but it was television that made him a household name. His daily talk show De Wereld Draait Door, which ran from 2005 to 2020, became one of the most watched programmes in the Netherlands, mixing culture, music and current affairs into something people genuinely wanted to come home to. He also co presented the annual Top 2000 à Go Go for nearly two decades, cementing his connection to music programming. His career hit serious turbulence in 2022 when a Volkskrant investigation described a culture of fear behind the scenes at his show, leading to his departure from BNNVARA. After a period out of the spotlight, he publicly expressed regret in a 2023 interview and has since signalled a return, with a new programme for SBS6 in the works. He is set to appear at Caprera Openluchttheater in Bloemendaal in the summer of 2026.