{"id":641685,"date":"2026-10-01T14:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T14:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/641685\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T14:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T14:26:09","slug":"esther-rantzen-the-best-bits-from-a-brilliant-tv-career-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/641685\/","title":{"rendered":"Esther Rantzen: The best bits from a brilliant TV career \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Esther Rantzen<\/a>, who has died aged 86, broke all kinds of new ground through a long career. As presenter of That\u2019s Life, a singularly odd BBC magazine programme, from 1973 until 1994, she championed a blend of light and serious material that had not previously occupied adjacent airtime. The show would move from hard-hitting reports to utter fluff in the flicker of an eyelash. That contrast continued to define her in later years as she alternated light entertainment with campaigns on profoundly important topics such as assisted dying. Here are 10 of her most memorable moments.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Broadcaster Esther Rantzen, TV host of That\u2019s Life!, dies aged 86Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The \u2018talking dog\u2019 (1973)<\/p>\n

Rantzen introduces one of the most famous (infamous) That\u2019s Life segments. A viewer\u2019s dog says the word \u201csausages\u201d and then attempts \u201cEsther\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bat Soup (1981)<\/p>\n

A classic bit of oddball That\u2019s Life. Rantzen asks unwitting citizens to try the above delicacy and ends up being \u201carrested\u201d for obstruction.<\/p>\n

Mimi, the stuffed cat (1981)<\/p>\n

Mimi, That\u2019s Life fan, complains about botched taxidermy.<\/p>\n

Are you posh? (1986)<\/p>\n

It is always about class with the English. Rantzen and the team visit Park Lane in search of the upper crust.<\/p>\n

Rantzen launches Childline (1986)<\/p>\n

Rantzen was founder of the service that offered a helpline for children in danger. It still operates today.<\/p>\n

Nicholas Winton meets the children he saved from the Holocaust (1988)<\/p>\n

The British stockbroker who arranged for the evacuation of endangered children, mostly Jewish, from Nazi-threatened Czechoslovakia movingly encounters the grown survivors.<\/p>\n

An early participant in Strictly Come Dancing (2004)<\/p>\n

Rantzen partnered Anton Du Beke in the second series. \u201cIf the judges don\u2019t give you a high score, don\u2019t worry, Esther, that\u2019s life,\u201d Bruce Forsyth quipped.<\/p>\n

On I\u2019m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! (2008)<\/p>\n

Rantzen was the fifth to be ejected in the series won by Joe Swash.<\/p>\n

Rantzen fails to be elected to parliament (2010)<\/p>\n

In 2010, following controversy surrounding MPs\u2019 expenses, she stood for election in Luton South, ultimately losing her deposit. <\/p>\n

Rantzen talks about \u2018assisted dying\u2019 (2024)<\/p>\n

After announcing in 2023 that her lung cancer had reached stage four, Rantzen continued to campaign for the UK to pass \u201cassisted dying\u201d legislation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Esther Rantzen, who has died aged 86, broke all kinds of new ground through a long career. As…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[149255,1578,321,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-641685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-assisted-dying","tag-bbc","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}