RIP Esther Rantzen

[MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack]

Sorry if there's another thread already - I did check.

Esther Rantzen has sadly passed away. I very much hope that she went peacefully and in a way that she wanted to. Have such huge respect for her for all of the incredible campaigning that she did through her lifetime.

This is what I think of when I think of Esther Rantzen. More power to anyone who can watch it without tears.

This is true for me as well.

I hope it was as peaceful as it could be for her

Do you have written confirmation she knew? Did she tell you herself?
Plenty of people, bigger than her, who could have stopped him, knew.
Let's just let Esther rest in peace, yeah?

That's life seems was such a feature of my childhood. We always watched it, and so did everyone else I know!

It was such a unique combination of serious campaigning, consumer education, human interest and silly humour. I can't think of any other programme quite like it.

No and she made it. No-one else could have done it.

Always a must watch in our house 😀
Back in the days when TV was actually worth watching, unlike the constant stream of drivel masquerading as entertainment nowadays 😬

R.I.P Dame Esther. I have happy memories of watching That's Life back in the 70s. Hope her passing was as peaceful and painless as possible.

She was an institution. RIP.

Im sad she didn't get the death she wanted at Dignitas. RIP x

Childline is her memorial.

Absolutely loved Esther and her work on That’s Life especially. The only programme I can ever recall that could segue from a heart-rending story about a terminally ill child to Doc Cox jumping out in front of shoppers in B&Q and persuading them to sing! All thanks to the skills of Dame Esther pulling everything together.

Very harsh, and you cannot say she definitely knew about Savile, unless she told you in confidence!

Oh, do go away. Loads of BBC employees knew. I'm pretty sure that most of them, including Esther Rantzen, didn't condone what he did.

I always assumed that was why she set up Childline as she was powerless to do anything about him & his ilk so did her best to help victims where she could.

I remember when Childline was launched in 1986 and thinking how sad it must be for some children to have to use that service.
I am now a Childline counsellor and am one of the many people who answer the phone to children and young people. Regardless of what else she did or didn’t do in her life, starting Childline trumps everything.

I just watched the programme on BBC she did a lot of good things but I know my mum worked for her at the BBC and she wasn’t very nice.

Dignitas even?

Oh bore off