Arabic version: وفاة السيدة دام إيستر رانتزن عن عمر 86 عاماً

According to BBC News, Dame Esther Rantzen has died aged 86. The broadcaster, campaigner and charity founder presented and produced BBC programme That’s Life! for 21 years, from 1973 to 1994, and launched Childline in 1986. Her family described her as a “most wonderful mother” and “cherished grandmother”, saying her compassion would live on through her charities.

That’s Life! regularly drew 20 million viewers with a mix of consumer investigations and lighter items. Rantzen began at BBC radio as a sound effects assistant, then became a television researcher before training as a producer and director in 1968. She later worked on Bernard Braden’s consumer affairs programme Braden’s Week. A 1988 episode of That’s Life!, in which Sir Nicholas Winton was introduced to survivors he had saved from the Holocaust, was the show’s most-viewed instalment.

Rantzen founded Childline as a counselling service for children and young people, and launched Silver Line in 2013 to help older people experiencing isolation and loneliness. She was made a dame in 2015 for services to children and older people. Later in life, she campaigned for the legalisation of assisted dying after being diagnosed with lung cancer in January 2023.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said she had “changed countless lives” and praised the courage and openness with which she discussed her illness. BBC director-general Matt Brittin called her a “legend of British broadcasting”, while Childline operator NSPCC chief executive Chris Sherwood said she had gone to “exceptional lengths” to ensure young people had somewhere to seek help. Dame Esther was married to documentary film-maker Desmond Wilcox from 1977 until his death in 2000; they had three children.