About me

I have been This Morning’s resident agony aunt from the very first show in 1988.

My TV career began in 1984 on BBC’s Breakfast Time, where I appeared with Selina Scott and Frank Bough. From there I went to BBC’s Open Air before joining This Morning in 1988. This is my 21st year on the programme.

I have appeared widely on television, notably in Dave Gorman’s Astrological Experience, John Culshaw’s Alter Ego, Coronation Street Secrets and the Alan Titchmarsh and Paul O’Grady shows. On This Morning I have appeared as Bet Lynch, Geri Halliwell, Maria Callas and a Charlie’s Angel, among other guises.

During my time on the programme and from my various columns I have received over 200,000 letters detailing the problems which afflict ordinary people, many of which I have experienced myself. I have written twenty novels, the first of which won a literary award, an award winning TV play, a stage musical, Fine,Fine,Fine and Relax! It’s Only a Baby, a guide for parents. My autobiography Agony: Don’t Get Me Started, was published in 2006 and my latest novel is The Winds of War.

I am a patron of more than thirty charities, among them the The Bubble Foundation UK, Relate North, Crysis, the National Council for Divorced and Separated and Youth Access. I write comment columns for The Journal and The Western Mail and an agony column for Candis magazine. My non-profit-making website, Dear Denise, helps anyone with a problem.

In 2006 I was awarded the MBE and I hold an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Sunderland and an honorary fellowship from St Mary’s College in the University of Durham. I am a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Durham and live with my third husband, Bryan Thubron and an assortment of dogs, near Sunderland, where I hold the Freedom of the City. I have five sons, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.