Geraldine McClelland RIP

[Nick Dando]

From the Guardian

Geraldine McClelland obituary | From the Guardian | The Guardian

Nick

Geraldine McClelland obituary

• Sheilagh Matheson
  
• The Guardian, Wednesday 14 December 2011

Geraldine McClelland won early plaudits at the BBC by throwing coffee over a notorious groper

My friend Geraldine McClelland, who has died aged 61, had a successful television career and was also a well-travelled socialist and feminist who defended her beliefs and influenced people. Called Mo by her family and lifelong friends, and Gerry by everyone else, she was interested in everything – except sport, opera and cooking. She said life was too short to stuff cherry tomatoes. She preferred to go on anti-war demos instead.
Born into a close Irish Catholic family in Birmingham, Mo had a strong work ethic and was politicised by the 1972 miners' strike while she was studying at Keele University. Unpretentious and straight-talking, with a keen eye for the ridiculous, she made a refreshing change in those hippy days. After graduating, Mo joined the newly formedLive Theatre in Newcastle upon Tyne. It was leftwing, unpaid and without premises, but Mo signed on the dole and spent her time in telephone boxes or trudging round pit villages trying to promote their plays in working men's clubs.
Joining BBC Television in Newcastle in 1976, she quickly made her mark by throwing coffee over a notorious groper. She thought she would be sacked, but instead was congratulated. Her career progression led her to Manchester and London as a producer, and then series producer, of a string of peaktime winners with presenters including Frank Bough, Lynn Faulds Wood, Russell Harty and Anne Robinson. Her heart lay with investigative programmes that could improve people's lives, and she became deputy editor of the Watchdog stable.
After early retirement, Mo combined working as a media trainer with volunteering to teach literacy in Wormwood Scrubs prison, west London, and a local school. She also helped unemployed women find work through the charity Dress for Success.
Mo adored her siblings, nephews and nieces and was a best friend for many, unfailingly supportive, perceptive and loyal. Simply being in her company was fun, and we spent many contented hours lolling around watching films and chuntering about the world.
She always believed that just as we make crucial decisions in life, so we should be allowed to take control of death when possible. She held true to her convictions by going to Switzerland for an assisted suicide, after undergoing unsuccessful treatment for cancer.
In a letter to the Guardian, published upon her death, she wrote: "I am not sad that I will die today. I am angry that because of the cowardice of our politicians I can't die in the country I was born in, in my own home." She expressed her wish for a "change [to] the law so that other people don't have to travel abroad to die, and that those who are unable to because they can't travel, or can't afford the fees, don't have to attempt suicide at home or continue to suffer against their will".
She is survived by her brother, Neil, and her sister, Pat.

[wellendcanons]

An incredible personality. The world is much the poorer for the loss of Geraldine. Many thanks Nick for posting the obituary of this remarkable lady.

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