How sad. Another character I regularly viewed on TV during my childhood. That’s Life may seem corny now but it was quite funny as a youngster.
I’d probably forgotten that she had but she must be credited for setting up Childline.
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Very sad to hear of her passing, Esther was a brilliant woman and did so much, I grew up with That’s Life and remember the program well especially the Nicholas Winton episodes plus the naughty vegetables.
R.I.P. Esther.
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Sausages 
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, thanks for the memory
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And the stuffed cat.
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I don’t remember that! YouTube helped!
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Sssausages
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You beat me to it.
My only claim to fame is my impersonation of the ssssausages dog.
Which my mate said sounded like Dudley Sutton.
So I now do a great impersonation ‘Sausages Lovejoy?’
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That’s Life was part of my childhood, but surely ChildLine is her lasting legacy. RIP and thanks for the kids you helped.
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Her show was huge back in the 70s and 80s with Cyril Fletcher and the other sidekicks. Peak time Sunday night BBC1 as I recall. Sad that she has left us - RIP.
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Sad to hear, like others, a regular watch on Sunday night. R.I.P.
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A true star of the small screen, of real quality substance and gravitas. ‘That’s Life’ was a defining part of 70’s TV and something that was part of my growing up. A very sad loss.
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She seemed to have an innate positivity and sense of fun, none of the voyeuristic borderline cruelty of modern reality TV.
Childline a fine legacy.
Bruce
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She used to live in the New Forest and was often in the The Bell at Brook ( I assumed she live in Brook). Saw her there many times with her husband- she was easy to spot and hear.
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One of the ways in which modern TV has sunk to plumbing the depths of all that’s bad in people IMO, on both sides of the camera. Devising strategies in programs to show people in the worst light possible, or just making them look very stupid, in the name of entertainment. Devoid of empathy or intelligence, just to appeal to the baser instincts. I guess it’s what many modern viewers want and identify with, judging by the immense popularity of many of these programs.
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The Nicholas Winton episode where all the people stood up in the audience, made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. Stirring stuff. RIP.
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Just watched the feature on YT and welled up, it is an emotional episode.
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An extraordinary woman who did extraordinary things and, its easy to forget, produced some extraordinary television. The Winton episode is probably the least extraordinary aspect of that. He forged lifelong bonds with many of the people he met that day and also became lifelong friends with her until his death in 2015.
It was and is easy to dismiss That’s Life but here was a consumer protection programme which introduced much of the nation to the joys of poetry, to young but future stars such as Victoria Wood but also had Jake Thackray as a regular.
Her stance on assisted dying was at least a stance but her dismissal of any view but her own on the matter ultimately placed her in opposition to religion, end of life professionals, the House of Lords and both DPOs and disabled people.
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Cyril Fletcher who referred to all he needed was a rub down with an oily rag.
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Still punching the bag, right up to the end. 
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