Having been with ‘This Morning’ since its inception in 1988, Denise Robertson helped many, many people over the years in her role as the show’s resident agony aunt.
And after it was announced that she had lost her short battle with pancreatic cancer on Friday (1 April), fans were reminded of the amazing contribution she had made to the ITV daytime show.
Arguably, her defining moment came as she fronted a domestic violence phone-in with original hosts Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan back in the '90s.
As she spoke to one distressed caller who detailed how her husband had been abusing her, it soon transpired that he had locked her in the house, so that she couldn’t escape.
While Richard and Judy were stunned by the revelation, Denise immediately stepped in to take control of the situation, offering up her words of advice for the woman.
“You honestly have to ring the police and tell them that you are locked in the house,” she told her.
“And the very fact that he has locked you in, indites him immediately. Why would a man lock his wife and child in the house unless he was a guilty man?”
Years later, Denise still remembered the phone-in, and claimed it demonstrated the power of ‘This Morning’.
“It was probably one of the defining moments of ‘This Morning’ and we had so many people offering to help to find her and opening their homes to her,” she told Hello magazine.
Stars including Holly Willoughby, Phillip Schofield, Ruth Langsford, Eamonn Holmes and Fern Britton paid a touching tribute to Denise during an emotionally-charged live show on Friday, following the news of her death.
