Martin Townsend (born 11 July 1960) is a British journalist. He was the editor of the Sunday Express from 2001 to 2018. Townsend attended Harrow County School for Boys (which became Harrow High School in 1975) and the London College of Printing. He gained his first job as a journalist in 1979, working on Caravan magazine, then was pop music correspondent at Today. In 2006, Townsend had a cameo role in the television series Hustle in which he, as editor of the Sunday Express, bought an exposé story from some con men regarding the unscrupulous editor of a rival (fictional) Sunday newspaper.