Dame Esther Rantzen, founder of Childline and the Silver Line and a passionate campaigner, has been awarded the Daniel Phelan Award for Outstanding Achievement at this year’s Charity Awards.
Having been diagnosed with terminal cancer two years ago, Dame Esther was too unwell to attend last night’s Charity Awards ceremony and accept the award.
However, her daughter Rebecca Wilcox was there to receive the honour on her mother’s behalf and was presented with the trophy by Cathy Phelan-Watkins, director of Civil Society Media and wife of the late Daniel Phelan, creator of the Charity Awards.
Dame Esther was honoured for a lifetime of campaigning and charitable activity. As presenter and producer of the iconic That’s Life TV show in the 1970s and 80s, Esther used her celebrity platform to utmost effect; exposing wrongdoing, spotlighting issues and causes that were previously hidden or ignored, and agitating for change.
In 1984, Esther had been horrified by the murder of a toddler, Heidi Koseda, who had been locked in a bedroom and starved by her parents. She suggested to then-BBC1 controller Michael Grade that That’s Life! should air an episode called Childwatch, which would invite people to participate in a survey if they had experienced cruelty or abuse as a child. The producers also decided to open a helpline immediately after the show aired, so that any young viewers could call in and ask for help if they were experiencing abuse. More than 50,000 calls were made on the first night alone.
This was the origin of ChildLine, the helpline charity which today, almost 40 years later, is still a key service within the NSPCC. Since that first night, Childline has helped children and young people on more than six million occasions, and the helpline model has been copied in 150 countries.
While Childline was Esther’s principal charity project, she has also campaigned, fundraised for and supported more than 50 other charities and causes throughout her life, with a particular focus on children, older people and those with disabilities.
In 2013 she launched a new helpline charity, the Silver Line, for older people who are lonely or troubled. Now part of Age UK, staff and volunteers at the Silver Line answer around 170,000 calls a year and since its launch it has answered more than four million calls.
Most recently, she has been a central voice in the campaign to change the law on assisted dying in the UK. When she revealed her cancer diagnosis in 2023, she also announced that she had joined Dignitas, the assisted dying clinic in Switzerland, because she felt everyone with a terminal illness should have the right to choose where, when and how they die.
Her support for the campaign was instrumental in the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill getting to the House of Commons, where a vote at the third reading last month saw it pass with a majority of 23. It will now face the scrutiny of the House of Lords.
Esther’s daughter responds
Accepting the award on her mother’s behalf, Wilcox said: “My mother, Esther Rantzen, has asked me to say, on her behalf, how very honoured and grateful she feels to be given this important and distinguished award, particularly on your 25th anniversary. You don’t look a day over 24.
“Like everyone in the charity sector, she has always been inspired by the desire to make a positive difference and has been rewarded with wonderful friendships. And for those working alongside her, she misses you.
“For her, the magic moment happens when someone, unprompted, talks about the difference that Childline or the Silver Line or another of her charity interests has made; the difference it has made to their life. And indeed some young people have told her they wouldn't have survived at all without the charity.
“Since her illness I have taken on some of her duties – you don't say no to her – and responsibilities and have been equally inspired and motivated by the work being done and the people I have met.
“How much in this world would be worse off without all the wonderful charities, their staff and volunteers? So, on their behalf and my mum’s, I’m honoured to accept this award, I’m ridiculously moved and I’m getting over it. Congratulations to everybody here for continuing to make a positive difference and transform lives for the better.”
About the Daniel Phelan Award
The Daniel Phelan Award for Outstanding Achievement is the only individual award given out at the Charity Awards, and the recipient is selected by Civil Society Media and approved by the judging panel. Dame Esther joins an illustrious list of winners including Lord Adebowale, Baroness Jill Pitkeathley, Dame Julia Unwin, Sir Nicholas Young, and Dr Hany El-Banna.
Daniel Phelan founded the Charity Awards in 2000. After he died in 2015, the organisers at Civil Society Media changed the name of the Outstanding Achievement Award to honour his memory.
Wilcox collected the award alongside 10 category winners and the winner of the Overall Award for Excellence, Oxfam, at a black-tie ceremony at the Royal Lancaster London, hosted by TV news presenter Asad Ahmad.
Read Tania Mason’s profile of Dame Esther here.
Click here to read the full list of Charity Awards 2025 winners.
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