Denise Robertson

Denise Robertson MBE, DL
Robertson at Durham railway station in 2015
Born	Margaret Denise Broderick 9 June 1932 Sunderland, County Durham, England
Died	31 March 2016 (aged 83) Royal Marsden Hospital London, England
Cause of death	Pancreatic cancer
Resting place	Sunderland Minster
Nationality	British
Occupation	Writer, television broadcaster, agony aunt
Years active	1985–2016
Employer	ITV
Known for	Agony aunt role on This Morning
Spouse(s)	Alexander Inkster "Alex" Robertson (m. 1960–1972, his death) John "Jack" Tomlin (m. 1973–1995, his death) Bryan Thubron (m. 1997–2016; her death)
Children	Mark Alexander Robertson (born 1962)
Website	www.deardenise.com

Denise Robertson MBE, DL (9 June 1932 – 31 March 2016) was a British writer and television broadcaster. She made her television debut as the presenter of the Junior Advice Line segment of the BBC's Breakfast Time programme in 1985, though is perhaps best known as the resident agony aunt on the ITV show This Morning from its first broadcast on 3 October 1988 until her death. In the course of her career, she dealt with over 200,000 letters from viewers seeking advice. In 2006 she was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to broadcasting.

Born Margaret Denise Broderick on 9 June 1932 in Sunderland, County Durham, she was the youngest of two daughters of Herbert Stanley (1889–1961) and Catherine Maud Broderick (née Cahill, 1896–1971). Herbert ran a shipping business that failed before she was born. She attended Sunderland High School.

Her first job was as a clerk at Sunderland Royal Infirmary. She then progressed to the position of medical secretary and later became a counsellor. She won a BBC competition to write a play and became an agony aunt on Metro Radio in Newcastle. In addition to This Morning Robertson briefly hosted her own television series Dear Denise in 2000. She also featured as a love and relationships pundit on Dave Gorman's Important Astrology Experiment in 2002. She ran an advice website called DearDenise.com and wrote a monthly column for national magazine, Candis. Robertson also made regular appearances on Channel 5's Big Brother's Bit on the Side.