Emma Britton dies at 52 after stage four lung cancer diagnosis

Emma Britton, the local radio presenter who voiced breakfast programmes in Bristol and Somerset, died peacefully on Saturday at Musgrove Park Hospital at the age of 52. She had been diagnosed with incurable stage four lung cancer in April 2025, and her family said they were heartbroken.

Gareth Roberts, executive editor of Radio Bristol and Radio Somerset, said: “Emma was quite simply the best of local radio.” He added: “A genuine, warm presenter who not only lived here in the West but who really cared about the communities in Somerset and Bristol with a passion that leaped out of the radio.”

Radio Somerset to Bristol

Britton joined Radio Somerset in 2007 and took over the breakfast show there in 2013. In 2016 she moved across to Radio Bristol, where she hosted the breakfast programme for five years before going freelance in 2020. That path kept her tied to local radio even after she left the staff rota.

Going freelance also widened her work beyond broadcasting. Britton became a celebrant in 2020 and administered weddings, funerals and other services, a move that put her voice and timing to work in rooms far from the studio.

Andy Bennett on Emma Britton

Andy Bennett, who presents for Radio Bristol and Radio Somerset, said: “There is no way I would be doing this job if it wasn't for Emma.” He added: “She was just good with people and understood people,” and said: “The listeners loved her. I always told her 'without you I wouldn't be doing what I am doing'. I wish I had a chance to tell her that again.”

Britton had said last August that “You can stay on the targeted therapy as long as it's working and some have lived on it for a number of years,” after starting a targeted therapy drug. She had also said she had never smoked or vaped and that the cancer had been diagnosed as genetic, which makes her death especially stark for a presenter who had kept working on a freelance basis after the diagnosis. Her family said they planned to commemorate and celebrate her life in the way she wanted.

Musgrove Park Hospital

For local radio in Bristol and Somerset, the loss is immediate: a presenter who moved through breakfast radio, freelancing and community ceremonies left behind a body of work built on local trust rather than celebrity scale. The clearest next step is not a programming note but a tribute, because the comments from Roberts and Bennett show the station already views her as part of its own history.