
Acting
Esther Rantzen
Born — Died
1940-06-22 — 2026-09-30
Place of birth
Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England, UK
Known for
Acting
Credits
35 titles
Dame Esther Louise Rantzen DBE (22 June 1940 – 30 September 2026) was an English journalist and television presenter who presented the BBC television series "That's Life!" for 21 years, from 1973 until 1994. She worked with various charitable causes and founded the charities Childline, a helpline for children, in 1986, and The Silver Line, designed to combat loneliness in older people's lives, in 2012.
Known for
8.0Talented chefs battle it out against the clock, creating delicious dishes in 20 minutes
Ready, Steady, Cook
1994
5.6Chat show hosted by Terry Wogan, featuring live studio interviews with famous and notable personalities.
Wogan
1982
5.9This topical debate series based on Any Questions? typically features politicians from at least the three major political parties as well as other public figures who answer pre-selected questions put to them by a carefully selected audience.
Question Time
1979
5.8GMTV is the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end. The final edition of GMTV was broadcast on 3 September 2010.
GMTV
1993
NRMichael Parkinson returns for a second run of his iconic talk show.
Parkinson
1998
6.0Antiques experts accompany celebrities on a road trip around the UK searching for treasures and competing to make the most money at auction
Celebrity Antiques Road Trip
2011
Film credits
2020s · 2 titles
7.6Alex Jones looks back at the highlights of Barry’s career on a selection of BBC shows, featuring some of Barry’s funniest, rudest and most revealing moments from over the decades.
Barry Humphries at the BBC
2023
NRA celebration of the life and work of much-missed broadcasting legend. With the help of old friends, colleagues and fellow broadcasters, cameras chart Terry Wogan's rise from Dublin bank clerk to national treasure.
Wogan: Now You're Talking
2021
1990s · 1 titles
1980s · 2 titles
NRIn the presence of HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother accompanied by Their Royal Highnesses The Prince and Princess of Wales. From the stage of the Victoria Palace Theatre stars from the world of entertainment bring you comedy and music.
Royal Variety Performance 1984
1984
Explanatory video programme for the new General Certificate of Secondary Eduction, designed to be shown in schools, utilising the magazine format of the long-running 'That's Life' television programme.
That's GCSE
1987
Series credits
8.0Talented chefs battle it out against the clock, creating delicious dishes in 20 minutes
Ready, Steady, Cook
1994
5.6Chat show hosted by Terry Wogan, featuring live studio interviews with famous and notable personalities.
Wogan
1982
5.6Chat show hosted by Terry Wogan, featuring live studio interviews with famous and notable personalities.
Wogan
1982
5.6Chat show hosted by Terry Wogan, featuring live studio interviews with famous and notable personalities.
Wogan
1982
5.9This topical debate series based on Any Questions? typically features politicians from at least the three major political parties as well as other public figures who answer pre-selected questions put to them by a carefully selected audience.
Question Time
1979
5.8GMTV is the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end. The final edition of GMTV was broadcast on 3 September 2010.
GMTV
1993
NRMichael Parkinson returns for a second run of his iconic talk show.
Parkinson
1998
6.0Antiques experts accompany celebrities on a road trip around the UK searching for treasures and competing to make the most money at auction
Celebrity Antiques Road Trip
2011
7.1TFI Friday was an entertainment show broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2000. The show was produced by Ginger Productions, written by Danny Baker and hosted by Chris Evans, for the first 5 series. The final series was hosted by a number of guest presenters. It was broadcast on Fridays at 6pm from 9 February 1996 to 22 December 2000, with a repeat later that night. The title officially stood for "Thank Four It's Friday", but was widely understood to mean "Thank Fuck It's Friday" and was a reference to the popular phrase "Thank God it's Friday". The show's theme tune was Ron Grainer's theme from Man in a Suitcase, in keeping with Evans's frequent use of 1960s television themes in his work.
TFI Friday
1996
Pebble Mill was a re-launched version of the 1970s daily chat show Pebble Mill (also known as Pebble Mill At One for a while) which aired on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The series premiered on October 14, 1991. The show was a mixture of celebrity guests and music. Alan Titchmarsh was a presenter on the show throughout it's complete run. Other presenters included Judi Spiers, Gloria Hunniford and Ross King.
Pebble Mill
1991
5.3An Audience with... is a British entertainment television show produced by London Weekend Television, in which a host, usually a singer or comedian, performs for an invited audience of celebrity guests, interspersed with questions from the audience, in a light hearted revue/tribute style.
An Audience with...
1978
7.0A British genealogy documentary series in which celebrities trace their ancestry, discovering secrets and surprises from their past.
Who Do You Think You Are?
2004
7.5A magazine-style television series on BBC1 which was broadcast from May 1973 to June 1994, presented by Esther Rantzen, with various changes of co-presenters. The show presented hard-hitting investigations alongside satire and occasional light entertainment.
That's Life!
1973
6.6Fast-moving game show meets talk show, which sees Frank Skinner refereeing three celebrities each week as they compete to banish their top peeve or worst nightmare to the depths of Room 101.
Room 101
1994
The Terry and Gaby Show was a daytime television show broadcast on Five on weekday mornings between June 2003 and April 2004, produced by Chris Evans' company UMTV. It was hosted by Terry Wogan and Gaby Roslin. The opening titles featured Gaby dressed up like a movie star driven to the studio in a limo and walking on red carpet to the door. Meanwhile Terry, carrying a briefcase, rode a rickety old bicycle across London and parked it outside the back door before quietly entering the building through said back door. The show was not well known for the guests who appeared on it, but rather for its many bloopers or double entendres
The Terry and Gaby Show
2003
8.0Going Live! was a Saturday morning magazine show, broadcast on BBC1 between 1987 and 1993. It was presented by Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene. Other presenters included Trevor and Simon, Peter Simon, Emma Forbes, and puppet Gordon the Gopher. The show was broadcast during the autumn to spring seasons, with other shows such as the 8:15 from Manchester and Parallel 9 taking over during the summer months. It was preceded by Saturday Superstore, and succeeded by Live & Kicking. In 1988, when the second series started, Greene was hurt in a helicopter crash with her then boyfriend, Mike Smith. Guest presenters stood in for her including T'Pau's Carol Decker. Similarly, in 1992-93 during the final series, Schofield was starring in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and was unable to present the show. A third presenter took his place. Originally, Neighbours actor Kristian Schmid took the role but soon left after problems with his work permit. Various other celebrities to stand in included Shane Richie and Robbie Williams during his Take That days.
Going Live!
1987
No synopsis available yet.
Daytime Live
1987
6.0Twelve celebrities are abandoned in the Australian jungle. In order to earn food, they must perform Bushtucker Trials which challenge them physically and mentally.
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
2002
6.7Nicky Campbell hosts a series of moral, ethical and religious debates.
The Big Questions
2007
7.0BBC Children in Need is the BBC's UK charity. Since 1980 it has raised over £600 million to change the lives of disabled children and young people in the UK. One of the highlights is an annual telethon, held in November and televised on BBC One and BBC One HD from 7:30pm until 2am. "Pudsey Bear" is BBC Children in Need's mascot, whilst Terry Wogan is a long-standing host. BBC Children in Need is one of three high-profile British telethons, although the only charity belonging to the BBC, the other telethons being Red Nose Day and Sport Relief, both supporting the Comic Relief charity. The 2012 appeal took place on Friday 16 November.
Children In Need
1980
5.5Exposure is a current affairs strand, broadcast in the United Kingdom on the ITV network. The programme brings together six films made by different producers exploring and investigating foreign and domestic topics, reporting on issues and telling human stories. The series was commissioned for ITV by Peter Fincham, ITV Director of Television and is a sister show to year-round current affairs strand Tonight. It made its debut on Monday 26 September 2011 - airing at 22.35, directly after ITV News at Ten.
ITV Exposure
2011
6.0The clock is ticking as contestants compete in games of lexical dexterity and numerical agility.
Countdown
1982
No synopsis available yet.
It's Only TV But I Like It
1999
Celebrities auction off their old possessions to raise money for charity.
Cash in the Celebrity Attic
2008
7.2We Need Answers is a British television panel game presented by comedians Mark Watson, Tim Key and Alex Horne. The show features a pair of celebrities answering questions which have previously been texted in by the public, or the audience, to 63336, a text message service.
We Need Answers
2009
Esther is a British talk show presented by Esther Rantzen. It was aired on BBC Two between 1995 and 2002 and over 600 episodes were made.
Esther
—
NRThe series looked back at British lifestyle television programmes shown on the channel from across the decades, with episodes on the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and the 2000s.
The Home That 2 Built
2014
Ageing celebrities and public figures take centre-stage in a variety of fun for the camera.
The Baby Boomers' Guide to Growing Old
2017


