The BBC property show Homes Under The Hammer has faced its share of dramatic moments off-screen, with presenters confronting serious health emergencies and a startling find on set. Long-running host Martin Roberts revealed he came within hours of death in 2022 due to a pericardial effusion, a fluid buildup around the heart. He underwent emergency surgery and later told a consultant he would not have survived the night if not for the procedure.
Roberts also recalled a bizarre incident in the Lake District while filming. The team discovered what they thought was a dead body in an upstairs bed, only to find it was a sleeping elderly man left behind by his family after the house was sold. The man woke up disoriented, asking for his relatives.
Another presenter, Tommy Walsh, has faced multiple cancer scares. In 2022 he was diagnosed with throat cancer, which was successfully removed. In late 2023 he revealed a new diagnosis of lung cancer, with a three-centimetre tumour. By June 2024, he confirmed the tumour was shrinking after targeted radiotherapy treatment called SABR. Walsh also had a benign lump scare in 2002.
