Dame Esther Rantzen has died aged 86 after a battle with lung cancer, her family said in a tribute that described her as “our sunshine.” Esther Rantzen now leaves behind Childline and The Silver Line, two charities that became central to her public work. The family said they were grateful she was “finally at rest” with her husband, Desmond Wilcox.
Childline and The Silver Line
Rantzen was a Bafta-winning broadcaster and campaigner who presented That's Life! from 1973 until 1994. She founded Childline in 1986 and The Silver Line in 2013, extending her work from television into services for children and older people. Her family said 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.”
The family also said she was “the most wonderful mother” and a “cherished grandmother.” They added: “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.”
Dignitas in December
Her death comes after she said in December 2023 that she had joined Dignitas, the Swiss assisted dying clinic. In September 2026, she said it was too late to “buzz off” abroad to where assisted dying was legal. That left the final months of her public campaigning shaped by the limits of travel and her worsening illness.
Rantzen was born on 22 June 1940 and joined radio in 1963 as a trainee sound-effects assistant before becoming a familiar television figure. Her family statement turns the focus to what survives her: the charities she created, the words she used about the people closest to her, and the unresolved question of what exact circumstances ended her life.
