Dame Esther Rantzen, TV legend who helped society’s most vulnerable, dies aged 86

Broadcaster and campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen has died aged 86. Her family announced the ex-That’s Life! presenter’s death in a statement, saying Dame Esther was “the most wonderful mother”, a “cherished grandmother”, and someone who will be remembered for “her endless capacity for joy”. Dame Esther hosted the BBC consumer affairs show for 21 years from 1973 to 1994, which led to her setting up Childline, a confidential counselling service for young people in distress, in 1986. She later launched The Silver Line in 2012, a similar support service to Childline aimed at older people suffering loneliness and isolation – part inspired by her own experiences following the death of her husband, Desmond Wilcox. After being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in 2023, the TV star became an impassioned supporter of the campaign to legalise assisted dying for people who are terminally ill. She signed up for the Dignitas assisted dying clinic in Zurich but had to abandon her plan to end her life there after she became too ill to travel. When a private members’ bill to change the law in England and Wales to allow assisted dying was finally defeated in September, Dame Esther said it was a “tragic day”, which would deny people the choice open to those in other countries to end their suffering. She also criticised the “messy and cruel” law in England and Wales which would criminalise loved ones who tried to help. She told of her anguish at loved ones seeing her “suffering pain or indignity” while she received end-of-life care. She was made a dame by the Princess Royal during an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace in 2015 (Photo: Steve Parsons/PA) The presenter was born on 22 June, 1940, in Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, and was the older of two daughters in a Jewish family. Her father was an electrical engineer and her mother was a housewife. Dame Esther attended North London Collegiate School, an all-girls independent school, where she won a place to read English at Somerville College, Oxford. At Oxford, she performed with the university dramatic society and the Experimental Theatre Group. Following her graduation and training as a secretary, she joined the BBC as a trainee sound effects assistant. After working as a researcher on a number of current affairs programmes, her breakthrough came when she joined the consumer affairs programme Braden’s Week and the producer decided to put the researchers working on its stories on screen. When presenter Bernard Braden returned to his native Canada in 1972, Rantzen was picked to host and produce a new programme along similar lines called That’s Life!. The show, which featured reports on consumer affairs often blended with satire, was a ratings hit and became one of the most popular programmes on British television. That’s Life! featured investigations on life-and-death issues, such as a boarding school employing paedophiles and a lack of organ donors. In one of the programme’s most memorable episodes in 1988, 79-year-old Nicholas Winton was reunited with a roomful of some of the 669 mainly Jewish children whose escape from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia he had engineered 50 years earlier. Winton was reduced to tears after Dame Esther asked if anyone in the audience owed their lives to him and around two dozen stood up. She then asked if anyone was a child or grandchild of someone who owed their lives to him, and the rest rose to their feet. He was subsequently knighted for his achievements. Dame Esther at a Downton Abbey-themed fundraiser for the NSPCC in London in 2013 (Photo: Nicholas T Ansell/PA) The programme’s campaigns led to the introduction of safe playground surfaces, a legal requirement for seat belts for children in cars and an upsurge in organ donations after it highlighted the case of two-year-old Ben Hardwick, who was dying of liver disease. After the murder of toddler Heidi Koseda, who was left to starve in a locked bedroom, Dame Esther urged BBC bosses to run a special edition inviting viewers to participate in a survey if they had suffered abuse as a child. A temporary helpline opened after the show had aired was swamped with calls – more than 50,000 attempted to get through on that night alone – mostly from children who were being sexually abused. The move inspired Dame Esther to found Childline, a helpline for children in danger or distress, with calls mainly coming from children suffering sexual abuse they had never been able to disclose to anyone else. Childline was originally staffed by volunteer counsellors including Dame Esther and provided confidential support to more than four million young people, before merging with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in 2005. The presenter also produced the reality series Hearts of Gold and The Big Time, which discovered the Scottish singer Sheena Easton. She was hit hard by Wilcox’s death in 2000, writing movingly about her experience of loneliness, which eventually fed into the creation of The Silver Line. Dame Esther also made the documentary, How To Have a Good Death, following patients and their families through the palliative care system and examining the options available to people at the end of their lives. Dame Esther at the Chelsea Flower Show in London in 2018 (Photo: Jeff Spicer/Getty) In a statement, her children Miriam, Rebecca and Joshua Wilcox, said: “Our adored mother Dame Esther Rantzen died today. “Her legacy of compassion and understanding will live on in her charities Childline and The Silver Line, and through those of us who were lucky enough to love and be loved by her. “We are grateful she is finally at rest with her beloved husband, Desmond Wilcox, but we will miss her immeasurably. She was our sunshine. “We will always remember her endless capacity for joy, her ability to comfort every heartache, her beautiful way with words and her expert guidance in all things. “She was the most wonderful mother to us three children and a cherished grandmother to her five treasured grandchildren. We have been so lucky for so long, no matter how much time we had with Mum it could be never be enough, but we are so grateful for our lives together. “Mum’s work with charities and campaigning, particularly for children, older people and the terminally ill, meant the world to her so thank you to everyone who has written to her, shared their stories with her over the years and worked alongside her. “We hope the humour, ingenuity and audacity she brought to her work may continue to inspire you as it will do us. “We kindly ask that we are given privacy and time to grieve.” Actresses Lesley Joseph, left, TV host Gloria Hunniford and Dame Esther at an ovarian cancer awareness event in the House of Commons in 2015 (Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA) Celebrities have shared heartwarming tributes to Dame Esther, including TV host Lorraine Kelly, who described her as “funny, forthright and fabulous”. Kelly added: “Sad news – a pioneer and a force of nature. Helped so many people – funny, forthright and fabulous. Thoughts with all her family and many friends.” BBC Radio 5 Live host Nicky Campbell wrote on X: “Dame Esther Rantzen RIP. What a difference she made.” NSPCC chief executive, Chris Sherwood, said she has left an “extraordinary legacy” having “helped millions of children” by founding Childline in 1986. Paul Farmer, CEO of Age UK, said on behalf of everyone at the charity he “would like to share our heartfelt condolences” with Dame Esther’s family. He added: “Esther was a true inspiration and spent her life working tirelessly to help others. After founding The Silver Line Helpline in 2012, now part of Age UK, she has helped to support thousands of lonely older people, making sure they have someone to talk to whenever they might need it. “Her dedication and commitment to older people is unrivalled and her legacy will carry on through The Silver Line Helpline’s work. We can never thank her enough.” Andy Burnham said Dame Esther “changed countless lives and gave a voice to people who often went unheard” due to decades of campaigning. The Prime Minister added: “And I will always admire the characteristic courage and openness with which she spoke about her illness, making us all think about the difficult questions we face at the end of life. My thoughts are with her family and all who loved her.”