Dame Esther Rantzen, the British television presenter and charity founder who spent nearly two decades hosting the BBC’s That’s Life!, has died at 86. She passed away on September 30, 2026, after battling lung cancer. Her death leaves a void in British broadcasting and charitable work.
Rantzen’s career spanned more than five decades, beginning with her rise as a journalist and TV host in the early 1970s. She became a familiar face on British screens with That’s Life! in 1973, a program that ran for 21 years until 1994.