Judith Chalmers, host of ‘Wish You Were Here…?’, dies at 90

Judith Chalmers, the television presenter who spent nearly three decades persuading Britons to take holidays as the host of the ITV travel series “Wish You Were Here … ?”, has died at the age of 90 after living with Alzheimer’s disease in her final years.

Her family said she died peacefully at home on Thursday, surrounded by “the family she loved so much”, after becoming ill in recent weeks. They said she would be greatly missed but left behind “a giant suitcase of the happiest memories”.

Chalmers presented more than 500 editions of the popular show between 1974 and 2003. Her family described her life as “extraordinary”, involving over 60 years in broadcasting and countless adventures across the globe.

When she landed the job as the launch presenter of the program, the farthest she had ever traveled was across the English Channel to France, reflecting the limited travel experience of many British people in the 1970s.

As cheap package holidays to Europe grew in popularity, her career took off. She became known for her warm, approachable presenting style and her sun tan.

In 2008, she made headlines by telling Graham Norton that she had never worn knickers on camera while presenting the show. “I was told by the wardrobe mistress that I shouldn’t have a VPL – visible panty line. So I’m sorry to reveal that after 30 years of ‘Wish You Were Here … ?’ I was pantless all the time,” she said.

Born in 1935 in the Cheshire suburb of Gatley, near Stockport, she began her career at the BBC at age 13, after her mother encouraged her to audition for work as a child actor on BBC Children’s Hour in Manchester.

She made her television debut in 1956, presenting a women’s afternoon magazine program. By the 1960s, she worked as a BBC television announcer and hosted “Come Dancing”, the original BBC ballroom dancing competition. Between 1966 and 1970, she presented BBC Radio 4’s “Woman’s Hour”. Her younger sister, Sandra, later followed her into broadcasting and became an editor of “Woman’s Hour” in the 1980s.

She told food journalist Mary Berry in the 1960s: “If you’re not fun, [the audience will] turn over to the other channel – and there’s only one more channel.”

She denied that presenting “Wish You Were Here … ?” was like being on permanent holiday. “We get to spend so little time in the places we visit and have to work 14-hour days, so that I’m usually too exhausted to enjoy them as holiday destinations,” she once said, according to The Times.

Her top travel tip was to not take too much luggage, although she did not always follow her own advice. “I still take far too much,” she told Metro in August 2019. “I’m ashamed whenever I see my heavy case coming off the carousel at the airport, and I think: ‘Oh Lord, is this really all necessary?’”

She is survived by her 92-year-old husband, former sports presenter Neil Durden-Smith, whom she married in 1964, and her son, Mark Durden-Smith, also a TV presenter on shows including ITV’s “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!” and “This Morning”.