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When watching ITV's Monday evening Krypton Factor replacement at 7.00 pm during the winter and early spring months of the 1980s and 1990s, I used to think how great it could have been to get a job which combines going on holiday to half the countries around the world whilst still working at the same time, and no, I am not confusing it with a Busman's Holiday either. Sadly, we have lost someone who famously done that for the best part of 30 years, and now, it is a case of Wish You Were Still Here With Us. Judith Chalmers, the main presenter of Thames TV's popular holiday show, has died from complications of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 90, and we do wish that she was still here with us.
Chalmers was someone who give inspiration to the TV viewers' holidays for the years ahead whether it was Beirut or Blackpool, but she had also presented other TV shows not long after afternoon programmes began in 1972 such as Good Afternoon! later After Noon Plus for also for Thames, and was also a presenter for Woman's Hour, the radio programme which inspired and influenced the aforementioned afternoon TV programmes, joining the programme when it was still on in the afternoons on BBC Radio 2. She had the glamourous surname of Chalmers, and quite rightly did not use her married name of Durden-Smith as her husband Neil (whom she married in 1964), and son Mark (born 1968) had! (I, for one, didn't blame her as I would rather be a Chalmers than a Durden-Smith!) She was also seen quite recently on a BBC One daytime programme in the past few years or so, I believe. Chalmers' son Mark Durden-Smith became famous in his own right, presenting the Channel Four Big Breakfast replacement flop RI:SE in 2002 and then presenting National Lottery game shows not long afterwards; indeed, this was around the time when the surname Durden-Smith had obvious comparisons with the then Conservative leader Iain Duncan-Smith which I immediately caught on back then.
When Chalmers stayed put in the UK and was not exploring on behalf of Wish You Were Here...?, she presented Family Favourites on the radio; Come Dancing on the television; and was the UK presenter of the Miss World contest, until Thames had pulled the plug from the UK side of things in 1988 probably because of the fact that it looked rather misogynist. As an actress she appeared as Susan in The Clitheroe Kid and worked with Ken Dodd as a foil for his act. Guest appearances in later years include Lily Savage's Blankety Blank and an appearance with her son Mark on Celebrity Antiques Road Trip. Even off the television screens, as recently as 2022 at the age of 86, she was appointed by Heathrow Express as their new Chief Smile Officer.
Nearly twenty years after she joined Woman's Hour, Chalmers was back on Radio 2 at 9.30 am as one of three female presenters (the other two were the late Katie Boyle and Nanette Newman), presenting the mid-morning show in 1991 and 1992 while Ken Bruce was on his two-year early morning and late night sabbatical, sandwiched between Derek Jameson and Jimmy Young in the daytime radio schedules, and rivalling Simon Bates on Radio 1. Her younger sister Sandra (or indeed Sandy Chalmers as she was known as), wasn't as well-known as Judith but she also did radio; she was a presenter on Primetime Radio, usually doing weekend lunchtime programmes; Primetime was a charitable radio station which sadly closed down in 2006 due to a lack of funds, and the station played such great music that no other station seemed to play.
Chalmers' own cultural currency wasn't too bad either; she was quoted once by Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough when he was referring to Roy Keane following time off due to red-card suspensions and injury at Manchester United, saying: "he's had more holidays than Judith Chalmers". (No doubt that Nottingham's Brian Clough statue might get some tributes from there). Whilst Victoria Wood, when performing her infamous Ballad of Barry and Freda (aka the Let's Do It song) on a while grand piano towards the end of her Audience With... in 1988, proclaimed that: "the only girl I'm mad about is Judith Chalmers..." I believe that Chalmers was one of the many celebrities who happened to be seated in the audience in that evening's show. (Coincidentally, as well as referring to Chalmers, both Clough and Wood had appeared in TV commercials for East Midlands Electricity back in the early to mid-1990s!)
Chalmers was appointed an OBE in 1994. During her final years she battled with Alzheimer's disease for many years, finally succumbing to the illness on 21st May 2026 at the age of 90. We all wish that she was still here now.
Chalmers was someone who give inspiration to the TV viewers' holidays for the years ahead whether it was Beirut or Blackpool, but she had also presented other TV shows not long after afternoon programmes began in 1972 such as Good Afternoon! later After Noon Plus for also for Thames, and was also a presenter for Woman's Hour, the radio programme which inspired and influenced the aforementioned afternoon TV programmes, joining the programme when it was still on in the afternoons on BBC Radio 2. She had the glamourous surname of Chalmers, and quite rightly did not use her married name of Durden-Smith as her husband Neil (whom she married in 1964), and son Mark (born 1968) had! (I, for one, didn't blame her as I would rather be a Chalmers than a Durden-Smith!) She was also seen quite recently on a BBC One daytime programme in the past few years or so, I believe. Chalmers' son Mark Durden-Smith became famous in his own right, presenting the Channel Four Big Breakfast replacement flop RI:SE in 2002 and then presenting National Lottery game shows not long afterwards; indeed, this was around the time when the surname Durden-Smith had obvious comparisons with the then Conservative leader Iain Duncan-Smith which I immediately caught on back then.
When Chalmers stayed put in the UK and was not exploring on behalf of Wish You Were Here...?, she presented Family Favourites on the radio; Come Dancing on the television; and was the UK presenter of the Miss World contest, until Thames had pulled the plug from the UK side of things in 1988 probably because of the fact that it looked rather misogynist. As an actress she appeared as Susan in The Clitheroe Kid and worked with Ken Dodd as a foil for his act. Guest appearances in later years include Lily Savage's Blankety Blank and an appearance with her son Mark on Celebrity Antiques Road Trip. Even off the television screens, as recently as 2022 at the age of 86, she was appointed by Heathrow Express as their new Chief Smile Officer.
Nearly twenty years after she joined Woman's Hour, Chalmers was back on Radio 2 at 9.30 am as one of three female presenters (the other two were the late Katie Boyle and Nanette Newman), presenting the mid-morning show in 1991 and 1992 while Ken Bruce was on his two-year early morning and late night sabbatical, sandwiched between Derek Jameson and Jimmy Young in the daytime radio schedules, and rivalling Simon Bates on Radio 1. Her younger sister Sandra (or indeed Sandy Chalmers as she was known as), wasn't as well-known as Judith but she also did radio; she was a presenter on Primetime Radio, usually doing weekend lunchtime programmes; Primetime was a charitable radio station which sadly closed down in 2006 due to a lack of funds, and the station played such great music that no other station seemed to play.
Chalmers' own cultural currency wasn't too bad either; she was quoted once by Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough when he was referring to Roy Keane following time off due to red-card suspensions and injury at Manchester United, saying: "he's had more holidays than Judith Chalmers". (No doubt that Nottingham's Brian Clough statue might get some tributes from there). Whilst Victoria Wood, when performing her infamous Ballad of Barry and Freda (aka the Let's Do It song) on a while grand piano towards the end of her Audience With... in 1988, proclaimed that: "the only girl I'm mad about is Judith Chalmers..." I believe that Chalmers was one of the many celebrities who happened to be seated in the audience in that evening's show. (Coincidentally, as well as referring to Chalmers, both Clough and Wood had appeared in TV commercials for East Midlands Electricity back in the early to mid-1990s!)
Chalmers was appointed an OBE in 1994. During her final years she battled with Alzheimer's disease for many years, finally succumbing to the illness on 21st May 2026 at the age of 90. We all wish that she was still here now.