Remembering Dermot Murnaghan
On 11th July 2026, news broke that Dermot Murnaghan, the much-loved broadcaster with a career going back decades, had died aged 68. His death brought out tributes from friends and work colleagues of Murnaghan, a newsreading legend who had presented bulletins for Sky, the BBC and ITV since the 1990s.
Regular viewers of Crime+Investigation will also doubtless recall Dermot’s authoritative on-screen presence on a number of our documentaries. Keen for deeper insights into the kinds of startling crime stories he had delivered on the news, Dermot hosted Killer Britain and Crimes That Shook Britain.
Many will also remember Dermot for his up-to-the-minute reports on the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997 and Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. We at Crime+Investigation look back on an impressive career – and how Dermot Murnaghan became one of the British news scene’s most respected voices.
How Dermot Murnaghan became a titan of broadcasting
Dermot Murnaghan was born on 26th December 1957 in Barnstaple, Devon, but grew up in Northern Ireland. Dermot later studied history at the University of Sussex, where he picked up a master’s degree in 1980. He went on to complete a postgraduate journalism course at City University in London.
Dermot’s journalism career began in the newspaper industry before he switched to TV, becoming a researcher for Channel 4. Here, he would appear on The Business Programme and The Channel Four Daily. This period saw him transitioning to presenting, continuing in this vein as he joined ITV in the early 1990s.
After about a decade presenting various news programmes on ITV, Dermot became one of the main BBC Breakfast presenters in 2002. In 2007, he moved to Sky News, where he not only regularly delivered timely stories but also hosted his own show, Murnaghan.
Known primarily for his serious journalism, Dermot also set aside time for lighter fare, including hosting the quiz show Eggheads from 2003 to 2014. Even his Sky News stint ended in a humorous flourish, Dermot signing off in 2023 with the Anchorman-inspired quip ‘You stay classy, planet Earth!’
A heavy-hitting political interviewer
Many of us will have our own favourite Dermot moments – moments that really demonstrated his prowess as a newsreader and interviewer. One of his biggest career highlights undoubtedly came in 1998 – when, in an ITV interview, Dermot pressed then-government minister Peter Mandelson on allegations of impropriety.
Mandelson, the trade and industry secretary in then-Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Labour government, had been accused of incorrectly filling out a mortgage application form. Under the pressure of Murnaghan’s questioning, Mandelson appeared to contradict himself on screen, damaging his credibility. He resigned shortly afterwards, and the interview won Dermot a Royal Television Society award.
Dermot Murnaghan’s move into crime documentaries
For a while, Dermot had grown accustomed to keeping the public updated about the latest crime developments. However, he was eager to dig much deeper into some of the stories he had previously touched upon as a news anchor. This inspired him to take up a role as a crime programme presenter for Crime+Investigation.
Dermot’s output for the channel includes Crimes That Shook Britain. Dermot enthused that the show ‘always remembers, first and foremost, to give the victims a voice through the testimony of their loved ones.’ Those victims included 26-year-old beautician Elle Edwards and 16-year-old Brianna Ghey.
Another of Dermot’s Crime+Investigation programmes, Killer Britain, focuses on several of the most shocking murder cases to have struck on British soil. Dermot Murnaghan told Crime+Investigation about the series: ‘It’s a thoughtful interrogation of dreadful crimes. We really get under the skin of the investigations and how they are solved.’
The eye-opening cases featured in the series include the murders of Phillip Nicholson in Dorset in 2015 and Jessica Patel in Middlesbrough in 2018. The Cumbria shootings of June 2010 particularly stood out to Dermot, as he remembered covering the story on the day itself. Despite this, Killer Britain taught him ‘so much more about what went on and how it happened.’
Campaigning for prostate cancer awareness
Towards the end of his life, Dermot was active in highlighting the importance of testing for prostate cancer, having himself been diagnosed with the disease. After Murnaghan’s death, former UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey both said his campaigning work would have saved lives.
Dermot Murnaghan died peacefully at his north London home on 11th July 2026 with his family at his side.
