That's Life! could return if Esther Rantzen succeeds in local TV bid

Mrs Rantzen, who fronted the BBC magazine show for more than 20 years, is part of That’s Media!, a consortium bidding to run two of 21 new local television stations around the UK.

The scheme is being championed by Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, who aims to replicate the media landscape in the US, where even mid-sized cities have local television stations.

Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator which is running the auction for licenses, said last week it has received 57 bids to run the local television stations. It is expected to publish details of the bids later this week.

Mrs Rantzen would be vice president of programming at the proposed channels, That’s Oxford and That’s Solent. She would present That’s Life!-style shows in Oxford on Friday nights and Southampton on Sunday lunchtimes. The 72-year old has links to both cities. She is a graduate and fellow of Oxford University’s Somerville College and lives near Southampton.

“We will expose rogue plumbers and petty bureaucrats and then celebrate heroic grannies and talented pets,” she said. “The most important thing for me is to make sure local TV is never dull and worthy. There is an obvious comparison to what we were doing on That’s Life!”

The show, which started in 1973, highlighted serious issues including the need for child organ donations or wearing seatbelts, with light-hearted segments on things like unsually-shaped vegetables. The series was eventually axed in 1994.

Ms Rantzen is one of a slew of heavyweight names vying for local television licenses. Former Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson, Sir Michael Lyons, the former chairman of the BBC Trust, and the Evening Standard newspaper are all bidding to run a local television station in London, whilst Scottish broadcaster STV has partnered with Edinburgh Napier University and Glasgow Caledonian University to bid for the licenses to run television stations in those cities.

Ofcom will award the licenses in the autumn. The successful bidders will have two years to get their stations up and running.