Kirstie Allsopp has shared a video with Phil Spencer marking his return to work, after the sudden accidental death of his parents.
Last month, Spencer’s father Richard, 89, and mother Anne, 82, were on their way to lunch when their car toppled off of a bridge on their Kent farm.
They were pulled from the submerged vehicle by Spencer’s brother, who managed to cut their seatbelts with a penknife, after their parents’ carer escaped from the back of the car and raised the alarm.
Emergency services spent 90 minutes at the scene trying to revive them. However, both Richard and Anne were later pronounced dead.
On Tuesday (12 September), Allsopp shared a video from the set of the Channel 4 property programme Location, Location, Location, which she has hosted with Spencer for 39 seasons since its 2000 debut.
Standing outside, Allsopp spoke directly to the camera and told fans of Spencer resuming work after the accident.
“So, we’re back at work filming Location, Location, Location and I didn’t quite know what my next post on Instagram should be, because my last post was about Phil’s mum and dad,” the presenter began.
After Allsopp thanked their supporters for their “lovely, lovely messages”, Spencer then moved into the shot behind her and expressed his gratitude.
“Hello, very grateful,” he said. “And I haven’t put anything on Instagram either, but I’m very grateful for people’s lovely comments.”
“You see?” Allsopp continued. “He’s English, and he’s a man, and he’s just done really, really well, so round of applause, Phil, for doing that. And thank you; you’ve all been so kind.”
Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsopp— (Instagram / Kirstie Allsopp)
Fellow television stars including Ben Fogle, Piers Morgan and Good Morning Britain’s Charlotte Hawkins sent their condolences on social media following the news of Spencer’s family tragedy.
Hours after the accident, Spencer paid tribute to his “amazing parents” in an Instagram post, and shared his appreciation that neither parent would have to live without the other.
“As a family, we are all trying to hold on to the fact Mum and Dad went together and that neither will ever have to mourn the loss of the other one,” he wrote, adding: “Which is a blessing in itself.”
Later in the post, Spencer shared that his parents’ health had been declining before the accident.
“Although they were both on extremely good form in the days before (hence the sudden idea to go out to lunch), Mum’s Parkinson’s and Dad’s Dementia had been worsening and the long-term future was set to be a challenge,” he wrote.
“So much so that Mum said to me only a week ago that she had resigned to thinking ‘now it looks like we will probably go together’. And so they did.”
The couple, who had been married for 60 years, are survived by their TV presenter son and three other children.
