Renowned TV presenter dies aged 79

Renowned TV presenter John Stapleton has died peacefully in hospital at the age of 79, his agent has said.

The face of factual programming for a generation, Stapleton featured widely on shows such as the BBC’s Watchdog and GMTV’s News Hour, after beginning his career at the Oldham Chronicle.

Paying tribute, former Good Morning Britain presenter Charlotte Hawkins described the broadcaster as a “brilliant broadcaster” and a “genuinely lovely man”.

His agent Jackie Gill said his Parkinson’s disease was complicated by pneumonia, and that his son Nick and daughter-in-law Lisa had been “constantly at his side”.

“He had an innate ability to navigate any challenge from breaking news to technical hiccups, whether in the studio or on location he was brilliant,” said Erron Gordon, Good Morning Britain co-creator and current BBC department head, describing Stapleton’s on-air versatility as “unmatched”.

After beginning his career at local newspapers in north-west England, Stapleton moved into TV, joining the BBC’s Nationwide programme in 1975.

He then became a journalist for the corporation’s flagship current affairs programme Newsnight when it launched in 1980, reporting from Argentina during the Falklands war.

He then moved to ITV in 1983, where he was part of the team that launched the channel’s TV-am breakfast show, before returning to the BBC three years later to front the consumer advice programme Watchdog with his wife, Lynn Faulds Wood.

Wood died of a stroke in 2020, leaving Stapleton to come to terms with his Parkinson’s diagnosis four years later with the support of their one son, Nick, who is also a BBC journalist.

At the time he was diagnosed, Stapleton told the BBC he was trying to remain positive, “because what’s the point in not being?”

A month after revealing his diagnosis, Stapleton challenged himself to sing for Children in Need, saying this had helped him with the symptoms, especially his tremors.

To learn how to sing, he joined the cast of musical & Juliet.

Following his time on Watchdog, Stapleton went to ITV again to join GMTV, its successor to TV-am.

There, he covered a range of global news stories, from the war in Kosovo to Hurricane Katrina.

Stapleton also interviewed big names of the time, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Princess Michael of Kent.

He stayed with the channel after GMTV ended in 2010, appearing on both Daybreak and Good Morning Britain, where he made regular appearances until 2015.

Former LBC radio host Sangita Myska described Stapleton as “a great journalist, role model and gentleman”.

She added in a social media post: “I watched him on TV when I was growing up with admiration.”

Born in Oldham in 1946, Stapleton was a huge Manchester City fan. When asked by the Independent in 2008 what he would do if he did not work in the media, he replied he would “spend even more time travelling the country watching Manchester City”.

The seven-time Premier League champions said the team was saddened to learn of his death, adding: “He will be missed.”