John Stapleton, renowned journalist and popular GMTV presenter, dies aged 79
The presenter had been living Parkinson's disease, revealing his diagnosis in 2024.
Renowned broadcaster John Stapleton has died at the age of 79.
The journalist, best known as a presenter on the likes of GMTV, Sky News, and Watchdog, has been confirmed to have died in hospital on Sunday (21st September 2025) in the early hours of the morning.
Stapleton made public his diagnosis with Parkinson's disease in 2024 and was living with the condition and managing it as best as possible.
His agent, Jackie Gill, confirmed that he had faced complications with his Parkinson's after being diagnosed with pneumonia in recent days.
Gill's statement on Sunday reads: "John had Parkinson’s disease, which was complicated by pneumonia.
"His son Nick and daughter-in-law Lisa have been constantly at his side, and John died peacefully in hospital this morning."
Stapleton's son Nick was his only child from his marriage of over four decades to his Watchdog co-presenter Lynn Faulds Wood, who died following a stroke in 2020.
John Stapleton began his career in regional newspapers before moving to Fleet Street and then to television, with numerous roles at the BBC and ITV, including on Panorama, Newsnight and Good Morning Britain.
In 1998, Stapleton joined GMTV in 1998 and presented on the show and its successors, Daybreak and Good Morning Britain, until 2015.
Stapleton won the News Presenter of the Year award in 2003 from the Royal Television Society, largely for his coverage of the Iraq War on GMTV.
In 2008, Stapleton also spoke openly about how he struggled with anorexia nervosa in his youth.
Speaking to BBC One's Morning Live in 2024, Stapleton was candid about his health and how best he was trying to live with Parkinson's.
Stapleton said (via The Guardian): "Speaking is how I’ve earned my living for the best part of 50 years.
"It’s very frustrating sometimes, particularly [when] people are constantly saying to you: ‘Sorry, what did you say?’ And you have to repeat yourself, time and time again.
"I am fairly pragmatic about the prospect of this getting worse. I try to remain positive, because what’s the point of not being?"
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