Dame Esther Rantzen, the Bafta-winning broadcaster and campaigner, has died at the age of 86, her family has said.

The former TV presenter, best known as the host of shows such as That's Life!, founded charities that helped millions of children and in recent years became a prominent voice in the attempt to legalise assisted dying.

In a statement, her family paid tribute to the “most wonderful mother” and “cherished grandmother” who will be remembered for her “endless capacity for joy”.

“Our adored mother, Dame Esther Rantzen, died today. Her legacy of compassion and understanding will live on in her charities Childline and the Silverline, and through those of us who were lucky enough to love and be loved by her,” they said.

“We are grateful she is finally at rest with her beloved husband, Desmond Wilcox, but we will miss her immeasurably. She was our sunshine. We will always remember her endless capacity for joy, her ability to comfort every heartache, her beautiful way with words and her expert guidance in all things.”

Dame Esther was the face of pioneering BBC series from its launch in 1973 until 1994, a show famous for mixing serious and humorous items that became staple Sunday evening viewing for households across the UK.

In 1986 Dame Esther founded Childline, to take calls from children suffering problems ranging from cyberbullying to drugs and from relationships and unhappiness to eating disorders.

She was equally passionate about the loneliness and isolation facing many older people, and in 2013 founded The Silver Line, a 24-hour telephone friendship service for vulnerable older people, which she conceived of after writing about the loneliness she herself had felt mourning her husband, Desmond.

Dame Esther had shared her personal health issues as part of a last-ditch plea to MPs to change the law on assisted dying.

It was in December 2023 that she first told how she had joined the Swiss assisted dying clinic Dignitas, in an effort to give herself an option in the face of her diagnosis of stage four cancer.

But almost three years later, in September 2026, she confirmed publicly that it was too late to “buzz off” abroad to where it was legal, despite having “spent the money and made the plans”.

Esther Louise Rantzen was born on 22 June 1940 in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, where her father, Henry Barnato Rantzen, a BBC electrical engineer, had sent his wife Katherine to escape bombing raids on London in the Second World War.

An extroverted child, Esther and her younger sister Scilla spent their earliest years raised on rations before their father took a job with the United Nations in New York, and she went to school in Roslyn, Long Island.

She read English at Somerville College, Oxford, then completed a secretarial course before joining BBC radio in 1963 as a trainee sound-effects assistant, but quit the job after being asked to capture the slam of an ice-skater falling painfully to the ground by doing it herself.

Rantzen then worked as a researcher for Ned Sherrin’s satirical chat show in 1965 and 1966, before moving to documentary series . Her breakthrough came in 1968 when granted the naturally telegenic Rantzen her first presenting experience, and typically she conducted vox-pop interviews in the street. When the programme was replaced by Rantzen was chosen as host.

The show redefined consumer broadcasting, carrying stories on subjects such as postnatal depression, as well as entertainment, famously showcasing talking dogs and “interestingly”-shaped vegetables. proved a huge hit, running for 21 years, attracting 15,000 letters a week and 22.5m viewers at its peak, even outperforming primetime rival .

An episode in which she interviewed Sir Nicholas Winton about his rescue of more than 650 Czech Jewish children from the Holocaust – before suddenly revealing, by asking people to stand, that every adult in the audience had been one of his evacuees and owed him their lives – is one of the most moving moments in British television.

Rantzen would later make the documentary for ITV about the life of the “British Schindler”.

When the BBC opened a temporary telephone line for young people following the programme’s “Childwatch” special, the line was inundated, inspiring the presenter to launch a permanent version of the service. Childline was replicated in 150 other countries, and later merged with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Rantzen’s other television successes included (1976) and Hearts of Gold (1988) – which celebrated unsung community heroes – and chat show .

In their statement, Dame Esther’s family said her campaigning work “meant the world to her” and thanked everyone who had “written to her, shared their stories with her over the years and worked alongside her”.

The NSPCC’s chief executive Chris Sherwood said Dame Esther had left an “extraordinary legacy” and “helped millions of children” by founding Childline.

Scottish TV host Lorraine Kelly also paid tribute to the “funny, forthright and fabulous” Dame Esther.

“Sad news – a pioneer and a force of nature.“Helped so many people – funny, forthright and fabulous. Thoughts with all her family and many friends.”