Broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen dies aged 86 after cancer battle - as family pay tribute to 'cherished grandmother' and 'most wonderful mother'
Her family paid tribute to the “most wonderful mother” and “cherished grandmother” who will be remembered for her “endless capacity for joy”.
Broadcaster and campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen has died after a cancer battle, her family have said.
Listen to this article
Her family paid tribute to the “most wonderful mother” and “cherished grandmother” who will be remembered for her “endless capacity for joy”.
Dame Esther confirmed she was being treated for stage four lung cancer in May 2023. The campaigner, known for hosting shows such as That’s Life!, became a major proponent of assisted dying in recent years.
Paying tribute, Andy Burnham said Dame Esther "changed countless lives and gave a voice to people who often went unheard".
Read more: Esther Rantzen: Too late for Dignitas as terminally ill tv legend weighs in on assisted dying debate
Read more: Assisted dying supporters brand Bill defeat ‘heartbreaking’ and ‘tragic’
In 2026 she announced she had been forced to abandon plans to end her life in Swiss assisted dying clinic Dignitas because she was too frail.
“Unfortunately, when I was strong enough to make the flight and go to Dignitas, my life was not unbearably painful, indeed, I was able to relax in my beloved cottage in the New Forest,” she said in a statement at the time.
“And by the time life did become unbearable, I was too physically fragile to make the journey and go through the Dignitas process.”
Speaking on the news of her death, Andy Burnham said: "Very sad to hear that Dame Esther Rantzen has died.
"Through her decades of campaigning, including founding Childline and The Silver Line, she changed countless lives and gave a voice to people who often went unheard.
"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."
MPS rejected a second bill to make assisted dying legal in England and Wales earlier this month.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said she had helped millions of children by founding Childline in 1986.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who tried to guide the assisted dying Bill through the House of Commons with Dame Esther’s support, said she had been a “fighter to the end”.
Dame Esther hosted BBC consumer affairs show That’s Life! for 21 years from 1973 to 1994, which led to her setting up Childline in 1986, to provide counselling services for young people.
She later launched The Silver Line in 2012, which aims to tackle loneliness in older people.
In later life Dame Esther became a strong proponent for assisted dying, after she was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in 2023.
But in September 2026, ahead of a vote by MPs which would see efforts to legalise assisted dying defeated in Parliament, Dame Esther shared that it was now too late for her to travel, as she had become “too physically fragile to make the journey”.
She told of her anguish at loved ones seeing her “suffering pain or indignity” while she received end-of-life care and expressed sadness when the assisted dying Bill fell – branding it a “tragic day”.
Dame Esther first became a star fronting That’s Life, the magazine show she helped devise, which featured reports on consumer affairs often blended with satire.
The show was a ratings hit and became one of the most popular programmes on British television, expanding the traditional role of the consumer programme to investigating life-and-death issues, such as a boarding school employing paedophiles and a lack of organ donors,
She founded Childline, a helpline for children in danger or distress, after a temporary helpline open for viewers impacted by a programme about a toddler who had starved to death was swamped with callers.
The calls mainly came from children suffering sexual abuse they had never been able to disclose to anyone else, giving Dame Esther Rantzen the idea for a specific helpline for children, open 24/7 throughout the year.
In a statement, her family said: “Our adored mother Dame Esther Rantzen died today.
“Her legacy of compassion and understanding will live on in her charities Childline and the Silverline, 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.”