Antiques Roadshow Appraiser Theo Burrell Dies at Age 39

Theo Burrell, an appraiser on the BBC programme Antiques Roadshow, died on Wednesday at the age of 39. A statement posted on her Instagram account said she died peacefully surrounded by her family. Burrell joined the programme in 2018 as a specialist appraising ceramics and glass objects.

She worked with Lyon & Turnbull auctioneers in Edinburgh and was from East Lothian. She had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, a highly aggressive brain tumour, in June 2022 at the age of 35. She experienced headaches, sickness, vision problems and migraines for five or six months before the diagnosis at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, according to BBC News.

Burrell underwent life-extending surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. She married her husband Alex earlier this year. Burrell became a patron of Brain Tumour Research in 2023 and campaigned for increased government funding, faster diagnoses and more clinical trials.

Dan Knowles, chief executive of the charity, said she was determined to make a difference for others despite knowing her cancer was terminal. Around 3,200 people a year are diagnosed with glioblastoma in the UK, and around 160 live for five years or more, BBC News reported. The disease is incurable, and there has been no advance in treatments for two decades.