When she got serious, she got very serious. The TV host boosted organ donations, closed down a school for abuse, founded two revolutionary helplines – and put assisted dying on the agenda for years to come• From Childline to changing TV for ever: Esther Rantzen’s revolutionary life• Esther Rantzen: from That’s Life! to Childline – in picturesBy no means should That’s Life! have ever worked as a television programme. For more than 20 years it functioned as an absurd grab bag of features that at times seemed specifically designed to induce tonal whiplash in its viewers.To demonstrate this point, That’s Life! was the show that introduced the nation to Prince, a talking dog who could say the word“sausages”, but it was also the show that put pressure on the government to introduce mandatory seatbelt use for children. This was the show that invented a new animal as an April fool’s joke, only for coachloads of tourists to arrive at London Zoo to try to spot it. It was also the show that embarked on a vigorous three-month investigation into allegations of widespread sexual abuse by teachers at a boys’ boarding school, resulting in the school’s closure less than two weeks after the feature aired. Continue reading...