Remembering Esther Rantzen: Her last full Telegraph interview

Dame Esther Rantzen has passed away at the age of 86 after a battle with lung cancer.

A pioneering journalist and broadcaster who presented the BBC series That’s Life! for 21 years and launched the charity ChildLine, Dame Esther revealed her diagnosis in January 2023, before announcing in May that year that the cancer had reached stage four and that she was on a new “miracle” form of medication.

Camilla Tominey spoke to Dame Esther – one of her heroes – in May 2024, in a wide-ranging interview taking in her broadcasting career, her illness and her views on assisted dying, and in a special edition of The Daily T we bring that to you in full today.

► Subscribe to our new Daily T YouTube channel: youtube.com/@dailytpodcast

► Get more exclusive Daily T content from The Daily T+ membership! Join here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxAP0Fco7gT9sUsLHk2qLSw/join

► We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X

► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor

The Telegraph is the Publisher Podcast Awards' Podcast Publisher of the Year 2026

Producer: David Levene

Senior Producer: Emma Williams

Social Producer: Nada Aggour

Video Producer: James England

Executive Producer: Charlotte Seligman

Editor: Camilla Tominey

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.