Esther Rantzen, the British television presenter and campaigner known for her long-running BBC show *That’s Life!*, has died at the age of 86, her family announced on Wednesday.

Rantzen rose to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s as the host and driving force behind *That’s Life!*, which ran from 1973 to 1994 and regularly attracted audience figures of 15 to 20 million viewers. The program was notable for balancing light entertainment with investigative reports that brought attention to social issues often overlooked at the time, such as stillbirth, addiction, and mental health. Under her stewardship, the show played a role in campaigns that encouraged the introduction of mandatory seat belt laws for children, safer playground surfaces, and increased organ donor registrations.

Beyond television, Rantzen was a tireless advocate for vulnerable groups. She founded Childline in 1986, a confidential helpline for children and young people in distress, which evolved from a surge of responses after an episode of *That’s Life!* addressing child abuse aired. The service has since assisted hundreds of thousands and inspired similar initiatives worldwide. She later launched The Silver Line in 2012, a helpline dedicated to supporting elderly individuals, a project she undertook with encouragement from the late Queen Elizabeth II.

In her later years, Rantzen became a prominent supporter of assisted dying legislation in Britain. Diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in her early 80s, she publicly endorsed efforts to legalize assisted dying, describing the proposed End of Life Bill as a “huge positive difference.” Despite her hopes, Parliament rejected the legislation in early 2026. Prior to her passing, she revealed she was physically unable to travel to Switzerland to access assisted dying services there, an option she had originally planned to use.

Rantzen reflected on her advocacy in her final years as an extension of her lifelong commitment to making a difference. She once remarked that the desire to effect change was “addictive,” and said that public responses to her comments on assisted dying reinforced her resolve to speak out on the issue.

Her career also included memorable moments of emotional impact, such as when she featured Nicholas Winton, the British stockbroker who helped rescue 669 children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939. The reunion with some of those he saved, revealed during a live broadcast, brought Rantzen to tears.

Born in 1940 in Hertfordshire into a Jewish family, Rantzen initially planned to be a schoolteacher before studying English at Oxford and joining the BBC. She married television producer Desmond Wilcox in 1977, and the couple had three children. Wilcox died in 2000, a loss that deeply affected her and shaped her views on end-of-life issues.

In November 2025, shortly before her death, Rantzen wrote of preparing to celebrate Christmas early, hopeful she would be well enough to participate. Her dedication to children, the elderly, and social justice causes remained a defining feature of her public life until the end.