Dermot Murnaghan dies at 68 after cancer battle
Dermot Murnaghan, one of British television's most authoritative news presenters, has died of cancer at the age of 68. His career spanned nearly four decades across Channel 4, ITV, the BBC and Sky News, where he became a familiar face to millions of viewers.
Career highlights and political scalps
Murnaghan was known for his tenacious interviewing style. In 1998, he secured the resignation of Peter Mandelson as Labour's trade and industry secretary after pressing him on a mortgage application form. Mandelson had failed to declare a £400,000 interest-free loan from Geoffrey Robinson. Murnaghan later won the Royal Television Society award for best interview of 1998 for that exchange.
Reflecting on his career after leaving Sky News in 2023, Murnaghan admitted he still threw soft shoes at the television when politicians evaded questions, saying: "I can't give it up."
Breaking historic news
In 1997, Murnaghan was the ITV newscaster who broke the news of Diana, Princess of Wales's death. He recalled receiving a call at 1am and being on air for 18 hours. "It felt as though I was telling a close relative that another close relative had died," he said in a later interview.
In 2022, he was the first broadcaster to break the news of Queen Elizabeth II's death while standing outside Buckingham Palace.
Early life and career beginnings
Born in Barnstaple, Devon, on 26 December 1957, Murnaghan grew up in Northern Ireland, attending Sullivan Upper grammar school in Holywood. He earned a BA and MA in history from Sussex University, then a postgraduate journalism diploma at City University, London. He began his career as a trainee at the Coventry Evening Telegraph in 1984.
He entered television in 1985 as a researcher and reporter for Channel 4's The Business Programme, later moving to the European Business Channel in Switzerland before returning to present Channel 4 Daily and World News bulletins.
ITV, BBC and Sky News years
Murnaghan anchored ITV's Lunchtime News from 1993 to 1999, often with Julia Somerville. He later presented the ITV Evening News with Mary Nightingale. He hosted BBC Breakfast News from 2002 to 2007 and presented BBC One's 6pm news. At Sky News from 2008, he hosted his own Sunday show Murnaghan and later anchored Sky News Tonight until 2023. He signed off by flinging his script to the floor, saying: "You stay classy, planet Earth. Goodbye."
Other work and personal life
Murnaghan hosted the BBC quiz show Eggheads from 2003 to 2014 and the true-crime series Killer Britain from 2020 to 2025. He married journalist Maria Keegan in 1989. She survives him, along with their three daughters, Kitty, Molly and Alice, and son, Jack.
