The former Watchdog host Lynn Faulds Wood has died at the age of 72. In a statement, her family said: “Having suffered a massive stroke last night and a subsequent bleed on the brain, presenter and journalist Lynn Faulds Wood passed away peacefully at 12 noon today with her husband, John Stapleton, and son Nick at her bedside.”
The presenter and journalist, who was born in Glasgow, presented Watchdog alongside Stapleton from 1985 to 1993. She had previously worked in print media, and then on consumer affairs for ITV’s TV-am and Breakfast Time on the BBC.
In the 1990s, she was one of the hosts of the ITV current affairs series World in Action, reporting on cancer following her own diagnosis with bowel cancer. She also later developed skin cancer, and became involved in raising awareness of the disease, co-founding the European Cancer Patient Coalition in 2002.
She was a consumer champion on GMTV between 2003 and 2009 and in 2014 returned to Watchdog after two decades to host a spinoff daytime series, Watchdog Test House, alongside Sophie Raworth.
Leading the tributes, Dame Esther Rantzen, with whom she presented the 2006 consumer show Old Dogs New Tricks, said: “I have known Lynn for many years. We made a series together which was huge fun but also very hard-hitting because she was such an impressive and courageous consumer journalist.
“She fought for the rights of vulnerable people doggedly and determinedly and she is a huge loss to journalism and to her friends and family. We are all devastated at this news.”
Raworth said: “I have known Lynn since I was 14. She inspired me to become a journalist. She has lived next door to my parents for decades. She has been the most wonderful, generous, kind friend to me and my family for such a long time. Can’t believe she has gone”.
Nicky Campbell, who presented Watchdog between 2001 and 2009, described Faulds Wood as “the real thing”.
“She cared genuinely and passionately about people and their rights,” he said. “When I joined Watchdog hers was the legacy we all aspired to.”
