Esther Rantzen: The best bits from a brilliant TV career

Pioneering BBC personality championed a blend of light and serious material on magazine programme That’s Life Esther Rantzen during a visit to Luton Town Market in the UK in 2010. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA Esther Rantzen, who has died aged 86, broke all kinds of new ground through a long career. As presenter of That’s Life, a singularly odd BBC magazine programme, from 1973 until 1994, she championed a blend of light and serious material that had not previously occupied adjacent airtime. The show would move from hard-hitting reports to utter fluff in the flicker of an eyelash. That contrast continued to define her in later years as she alternated light entertainment with campaigns on profoundly important topics such as assisted dying. Here are 10 of her most memorable moments.[ Broadcaster Esther Rantzen, TV host of That’s Life!, dies aged 86Opens in new window ]The ‘talking dog’ (1973)Rantzen introduces one of the most famous (infamous) That’s Life segments. A viewer’s dog says the word “sausages” and then attempts “Esther”.Bat Soup (1981)A classic bit of oddball That’s Life. Rantzen asks unwitting citizens to try the above delicacy and ends up being “arrested” for obstruction.Mimi, the stuffed cat (1981)Mimi, That’s Life fan, complains about botched taxidermy.READ MOREAre you posh? (1986)It is always about class with the English. Rantzen and the team visit Park Lane in search of the upper crust.Rantzen launches Childline (1986)Rantzen was founder of the service that offered a helpline for children in danger. It still operates today.Nicholas Winton meets the children he saved from the Holocaust (1988)The British stockbroker who arranged for the evacuation of endangered children, mostly Jewish, from Nazi-threatened Czechoslovakia movingly encounters the grown survivors.An early participant in Strictly Come Dancing (2004)Rantzen partnered Anton Du Beke in the second series. “If the judges don’t give you a high score, don’t worry, Esther, that’s life,” Bruce Forsyth quipped.On I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (2008)Rantzen was the fifth to be ejected in the series won by Joe Swash.Rantzen fails to be elected to parliament (2010)In 2010, following controversy surrounding MPs’ expenses, she stood for election in Luton South, ultimately losing her deposit. Rantzen talks about ‘assisted dying’ (2024)After announcing in 2023 that her lung cancer had reached stage four, Rantzen continued to campaign for the UK to pass “assisted dying” legislation. IN THIS SECTION