Natasha Kaplinsky makes a rare public appearance as she attends memorial for fellow BBC News At Six presenter George Alagiah in London after journalist’s tragic death from cancer

Natasha Kaplinsky made a rare appearance in public on Tuesday as she attended the memorial for her fellow News At Six presenter George Alagiah in London. 

Newsreader George passed away in July aged 67 after a years-long battle with bowel cancer. 

The pair were firm friends and co-hosted News At Six from 2005 to 2007, when Natasha left to relaunch Five and George stepped up to host the show solo. 

Natasha, 51, joined other BBC stars including Fiona Bruce, Sophie Raworth and Nick Robinson in paying tribute to their beloved friend at the service at St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square.

Ms Kaplinsky previously said it was a ‘privilege’ to be friends with Mr Alagiah as she paid tribute to him after news of his death broke four months ago.

Supportive: Natasha Kaplinsky made a rare appearance in public on Tuesday as she attended the memorial for her fellow News At Six presenter George Alagiah in London

Co-hosts: Natasha and George were firm friends and co-hosted News At Six from 2005 to 2007 (pictured on the set of the BBC Six O’Clock news in 2007)

‘Goodbye dearest George. I will miss you so very much. It was such a privilege to be your friend’, she wrote on Instagram alongside a smiley selfie of the two of them.

Natasha joined the BBC in 2001 and became the host of Six O’Clock news in 2005. In 2007 she left to help relaunch Five, now known as Channel 5

Natasha was the first ever winner of Strictly Come Dancing in 2004 with partner Brendan Cole. 

She helped to co-present the second series while Tess Daly was on maternity leave. 

However she now enjoys a life away from the spotlight, living in the Sussex countryside with her husband Justin, whom she married in 2005 and her two children. 

He endured two rounds of chemotherapy and several operations, including the removal of most of his liver.

Out and about: Natasha is now rarely seen in public but joined her fellow BBC stars to pay tribute to George at the St Martin In The Fields Church

Thoughtful: Natasha shared a sweet selfie of the pair when news broke of his passing

Sad: BBC News at Six presenter George Alagiah died on July 24 in London aged 67

In October 2015 he announced that his treatment was over and returned to BBC News At Six on November 10.

Alagiah joined the BBC in 1989 and spent many years as one of the corporation’s leading foreign correspondents before moving to presenting.

He first began hosting the 6pm news bulletin in early 2003, but stepped up to front it solo four years later following the departure of his co-host Natasha. 

In October last year, Alagiah announced he was taking a break from presenting the BBC’s News At Six following another scan.

Alagiah spoke openly about the experience of living with cancer, joining a videocast for the charity Bowel Cancer UK in 2020 in which he said he sometimes felt he had the ‘easy part’, living with bowel cancer while his loved ones had to watch.

He died on July 24 in London aged 67.

Stars: BBC newsreader Sophie Raworth is among those at George Alagiah’s memorial service today

Crowds: BBC presenters Fiona Bruce (left) and Mishal Husain speak outside the memorial today

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