Who is The Family Commission?
Click on the names in the left hand column to read more about each of the Commissioners.
- Esther Rantzen CBE
- Sir William S Atkinson
- Stella Creasy
- Meadbh Dempsey
- Josh Dowgill
- Alex Graham
- Rachel Johnson
- Anna Kennedy
- Professor Kathleen Kiernan
- Charlotte Leslie
- Anne Longfield OBE
- Caroline Marsh
- Seyi Obakin
- Pip O’Byrne
- Richard Reeves
- Yvonne Roberts
- Jean Stogdon
- Karen Woodall
- Professor Sue Yeandle
Esther Rantzen CBE
Chair of Commission
A graduate from Oxford, Esther’s career in journalism began with BBC Radio as a sound effects assistant. From there she moved into television as a researcher/reporter for Braden’s Week and then in 1973 as producer/presenter of ‘That’s Life,’ which was on air for 21 years. Esther has made a number of pioneering programmes on subjects such as British women’s experience of childbirth, stillbirth, mental health and child abuse. In 1986 she invented the concept of ChildLine and chaired its Board of Trustees for 20 years. After the merger of ChildLine with NSPCC in February 2006, Esther became President of ChildLine and a trustee of the NSPCC.
Esther contributes regularly to the Daily Mail and other publications. She lectures on children’s issues, broadcasting and many other topics. Having written a best-selling autobiography and the novel A Secret Life, she is currently working on a second novel.
