Tributes have poured in from across the North’s broadcasting sector and beyond to Oldham-born former Newsnight, Watchdog and GMTV presenter John Stapleton, who has died at the age of 79 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2024.
Stapleton’s agent, Jackie Gill, said on Sunday: “John had Parkinson’s disease, which was complicated by pneumonia. His son Nick and daughter-in-law Lise have been constantly at his side and John died peacefully in hospital this morning.”
Stapleton began his career as a trainee reporter in the North West, before moving into television as a presenter on the BBC’s Nationwide and then for Newsnight, where he reported on conflicts around the world.
He became a household name after moving into the world of light entertainment and consumer affairs. He presented the BBC’s Watchdog programme between 1985 and 1993 alongside his wife, Lynn Faulds Wood, who died in 2020.
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Watchdog, one of TV’s longest running consumer affairs shows, was renowned for exposing shoddy workmanship and illegal working practices, with the team often confronting business owners and scam artists.
After revealing his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2024, Stapleton went on BBC One’s Morning Live to discuss his illness: “Speaking is how I’ve earned my living for the best part of 50 years,” he told viewers. “It’s very frustrating sometimes, particularly [when] people are constantly saying to you: ‘Sorry, what did you say?’ And you have to repeat yourself, time and time again.
“I am fairly pragmatic about the prospect of this getting worse. I try to remain positive, because what’s the point of not being?”
He also partnered with Children in Need and sang a song from the musical & Juliet, after revealing that he used singing to cope with his diagnosis.
Stapleton’s son Nick also inherited the consumer affairs programming bug from his dad, followinh him into TV as co-host of the BBC’s Bafta-winning Scam Interceptors.
Several Northern TV personalities were among those taking to social media to share their reminiscences and best wishes to the family:
Manchester City, of whom Stapleton was a lifelong fan, also joined the tributes, tweeting that the club was “saddened to learn” of the death of a “passionate City supporter” and of one its best known fans. Stapleton’s son Nick said that when he and his father “watched them [City] win the Champions League in Istanbul he turned to me and said he’d die happy. He meant it.”
Image: @City_Chief/Twitter (X)
