TV presenter Dermot Murnaghan dies aged 68

TV presenter Dermot Murnaghan has died, a year after he revealed he had been diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer.

The former BBC, ITV and Sky News journalist was 68.

“It is with great sadness that the family of Dermot Murnaghan announces that he passed away at home in North London earlier this morning,” his family said in a statement posted to his X account. “He died peacefully with his family at his side.”

A fixture on British TV news across five decades, he presented flagship programmes including the ITV Evening News and the BBC News at Six and Ten.

Murnaghan was a main presenter of BBC Breakfast from September 2002 to December 2007 and also hosted quiz show Eggheads.

When he revealed his diagnosis last summer, he said he was “responding positively” to treatment and “feeling well”.

He became an outspoken advocate for men to get tested for the condition.

“Needless to say my message to all men over 50, in high risk groups, or displaying symptoms, is get yourself tested and campaign for routine prostate screening by the NHS,” he said.

“Early detection is crucial. And be aware, this disease can sometimes progress rapidly without obvious symptoms.”

His family thanked the public “for the many, many kind messages of goodwill that he received over the last year since his diagnosis of Stage IV prostate cancer and his subsequent campaigning to raise awareness for screening programmes for the disease”.

Murnaghan started his career at Channel 4 News before fronting ITV shows including The Big Story and the News at 10 from 1993 to 1997, and the channel’s Evening News and Nightly News from 1999 to 2001.

He moved to the BBC in 2002, as one of the main hosts of BBC Breakfast, the Six O’Clock News and the Ten O’Clock News.

He presented Eggheads for 11 years from 2003, and was one of the faces of Sky News from 2007 to 2023.

Murnaghan also hosted the documentaries Crimes That Shook Britain for Channel 5 and Killer Britain for the Crime + Investigation UK channel.

He later launched his podcast Legends of News, speaking to other seasoned journalists and correspondents about major stories they had covered.