Beloved BBC presenter Emma Britton has died aged 52. Emma, best known for hosting the breakfast programmes on BBC Radio Bristol and BBC Radio Somerset, passed away after being diagnosed with incurable stage four lung cancer in April, 2025. Her family paid tribute to the radio star, saying Emma was "so grateful for the love and care shown to her in recent months".

"We are also, as you would expect, going to commemorate and celebrate her life in exactly the way she wanted. And with the grace and love she showed so many families in the same situation we find ourselves now. It's hard to comprehend just how many people she has helped so profoundly over the years."

Emma's BBC colleagues also paid their respects, as Gareth Roberts, executive editor of both stations, called Emma a "genuine, warm presenter" who was an "amazing colleague and a great friend to many".

He added: "Emma was quite simply the best of BBC local radio.

"A genuine, warm presenter who not only lived here in the West but who really cared about the communities in Somerset and Bristol with a passion that leaped out of the radio."

Stephanie Marshall, Head of BBC West, added: "Emma was Mrs Bridgwater, always doing her hometown and Somerset proud.

"She will be painfully missed but completely unforgettable, and the world while poorer without her, we are far better off for her having been in it, if only it could have been for a bit longer."

Emma joined BBC Somerset back in 2007, before taking over the breakfast show in 2013. She then moved across to Radio Bristol in 2016, where she hosted for five years.

In February 2026, she raised over £11,000 for ALK Positive UK, a charity which she said "saved my life from falling apart".

She added: "In the weeks following my diagnosis I was in a pretty dark place.

"The charity has given me and my husband John support, advice, solidarity, information, education, friendship and above all they give us hope."