Esther Rantzen - Personal Life

Personal Life

In 1968 Rantzen started an affair with Desmond Wilcox, who was the head of her department and was married at the time to her friend Patsy who also worked at the BBC. After several years they decided to live together, and informed BBC management of their relationship. Management's solution was to move the entire production team of That's Life! out of Wilcox's department. The new arrangement meant that Rantzen and Patsy were now working in the same department, causing both women concern. Patsy Wilcox had always refused to divorce her husband, but agreed when Rantzen became pregnant. After Rantzen and Wilcox married in December 1977, BBC management moved her back into General Features department run by him.

By that time, That's Life! was achieving huge audiences ratings, and reaching the number one position, gaining more viewers than Coronation Street. This created tension among colleagues in General Features, who ascribed the success of the programme to Wilcox's relationship with Rantzen. They complained to management, quoting the BBC's regulation that husbands and wives should not work in the same department. As a result Desmond Wilcox resigned, and set up his own independent production company, making documentaries such as The Visit, which included a series of programmes about The Boy David. For these, as well as previous films, he received many international awards, including the Grierson Life-Time Achievement Award in 2001. Wilcox and Rantzen had three children — Miriam Emily (now known as Emily, b. 1978), Rebecca (b. 1980), and Joshua (b. 20 October 1981). Currently, Emily is studying psychology, Rebecca is a television producer/journalist, and Joshua is a medical student at the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry.

In 1981, Rantzen gained national media attention when, whilst filming interviews with the general public for That's Life! in London's North End Road, she attracted the attention of Police Constable A. Herbert, who felt that she was obstructing the pavement while handing out bat stew. After warning her to move on, the police officer arrested Rantzen for causing obstruction, and she was taken away in a police van. The entire incident was filmed and shown during the next episode of the series to delighted audience response. The case later went to court and Rantzen was convicted and fined £15.

She writes regularly for the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday, the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Express on social issues. She is the author of several books, including an autobiography, Esther, a book on growing old disgracefully, If Not Now When, a novel A Secret Life and "Running Out of Tears" (published by the Robson Press), interviews with young adults who had rung ChildLine when they were children, to celebrate ChildLine's 25 years, royalties to ChildLine.