BBC Breakfast paid an emotional tribute to late presenter Dermot Murnaghan on Monday, following his death at the age of 68. The veteran broadcaster passed away at his North London home on Saturday, 11 July, after a year-long battle with stage four prostate cancer.
His family, including his wife of 37 years, Maria Keegan, and their four children—Kitty, Molly, Alice, and Jack—released a statement expressing gratitude to the medical teams who cared for him with sensitivity and compassion. They also thanked the public for the many messages of goodwill he received since his diagnosis.
Montage and Tribute from Former Co-Star
BBC Breakfast hosts Sally Nugent and Jon Kay introduced a montage of Murnaghan's best moments from his time on the programme between 2002 and 2007, before he moved to Sky News. Following the video, they spoke to his former co-star Sian Williams, who worked alongside him on BBC Breakfast.
Sally Nugent asked Williams, 61, to describe Murnaghan's character. Williams said: "Oh he was warm. He was funny. He was incredibly versatile. I mean we just saw there didn't we? And those of us who were lucky to work with him saw what he was like as a professional."
She added: "You know when you're sitting next to somebody, as you know for three hours a day, four days a week for many years you see how they work and you learn to have a trust and respect in them... He was authoritative. He was incredibly professional. He didn't work from a script or a list of questions when he was interviewing politicians. He said: 'If I couldn't ask my own questions I don't deserve the right to be here.' So that was the man on screen and off screen he was just a really good bloke."
Murnaghan's Prostate Cancer Battle and Legacy
Williams also spoke about Murnaghan's decision to go public with his prostate cancer diagnosis last summer. She revealed that he regretted not getting screened earlier. Williams said: "I talked to him just before he revealed the diagnosis publicly and we talked about that difficulty of making something so private public... he wished that he had got screened earlier, that his cancer had been detected earlier and that was a message that he was determined to get out to the public."
She highlighted the impact of his campaigning: "Thousands of men got tested because of him, who will live because of him, and that is an amazing legacy to leave." Williams noted that campaigning while undergoing cancer treatment required immense energy and placed strain on his family, but Murnaghan remained committed to reporting and communicating the important message about screening.
Concluding the tribute, Williams said: "He took the news seriously, he didn't take himself seriously at all. He was great fun and he loved being on BBC Breakfast. You know, he said we were a family... He really understood that, he was a brilliant broadcaster, he's left an amazing legacy and he was just a really good bloke."
BBC Breakfast airs daily at 6am on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
