Dale lit up the studio, he needed to be on TV, it was his lifeblood
SO sad to hear of the lovely Dale Winton’s passing – far too young aged 62 – especially as he seemed to love life so much.
I sometimes bumped into him (was almost accosted actually!) as he, Barbara Windsor, her husband Scott and various friends sat outside a cafe in London’s Marylebone, not far from where he was born.
He’d leap to his feet and drag me in. They always seemed to be having a whale of a time, aided only by cups of coffee and chunks of cake.
Dale lit up a room, a cafe, a street and, of course, a TV studio, where he was in his element. He had a gorgeous house on a terrace
that faced Regent’s Park, where I went to film him for an ITV show in which I got to interview celebs and snoop around their homes in order to reveal the person behind the TV personality.
Dale’s was very tasteful – immaculate, but not lived-in. I don’t think he spent a lot of time there on his own.
He was so generous with his warmth toward friends and the contestants he reassured when they appeared on his various shows. He was a giver, but was often cursed with depressive episodes, something his mum suffered from too.
He had to get out of the door each day. He needed company and got it in bundles from his career. He needed to be on TV. It was his lifeblood, his source of happiness, his reason to get up in the morning.
TV’s a hard game, though. No matter how good you are, how keen you are to ply your trade, whether you work or not depends on a TV exec liking you, wanting you and thinking you’re relevant. You never have a full-time job, especially working in light entertainment.
Not having a reason to get out of the house every day, to have some structure to a life, is a hard regime for anyone, but more so if depression’s always there, threatening to move in on you.
I think the fact that Dale wasn’t on TV as regularly as he used to be might have diminished the warm flame that lit his sunny personality. When I think of him, though, it is still there.
He was a giver but cursed with depressive episodes