Susanna Reid returned to BBC Breakfast to pay tribute to co-host Bill Turnbull following his death aged 66. Featuring alongside Mr Turnbull's other colleagues from over the years in a tribute on the BBC, Ms Reid said that Mr Turnbull had been like the "father of BBC Breakfast".
She said: "He mentored everybody on the programme, he was like the father of BBC Breakfast. He taught me everything, he taught so many of us everything about journalism, about television and about being a decent person in this industry... he was kind, compassionate and wise and a great friend and I loved every minute of being with him, I'm going to really miss him."
His former co-host Louise Minchin recalled how Mr Turnbull had been a "stickler for grammar" and praised the work he had done to campaign to raise awareness about prostate cancer, following his own diagnosis in 2017. Ms Minchin, who first appeared on the broadcaster’s flagship morning news show in 2001, said farewell to BBC Breakfast in September 2021, while Mr Turnbull signed off from the sofa in 2016 after 15 years.
During Ms Minchin’s final programme, Mr Turnbull featured in a moving tribute saying she was “most of all a warm, sunny person who will always be my friend”.
She told BBC Breakfast: “I think it was kindness and generosity with his time and even when I was still in contact with him – we’re still members of a lottery syndicate which I’m still playing and I will go on playing, by the way. But he always was kind with his time.
"So for example, when I took the decision to leave BBC Breakfast, the first person, one of the first people, I talked about making that decision was Bill, and you know, he was ill at the time, but he took time out of his day to have a long conversation with me about that. And I think we all really appreciated that, you know, he had a huge stature, a very important reputation, but he always would give back to all of us.”
Mr Turnbull was diagnosed with prostate cancer in November 2017 and later detailed his treatment in a Channel 4 documentary called Staying Alive. He died "peacefully" at home in Suffolk on August 31 after a "challenging and committed fight against prostate cancer", his family said.
