He took a year out to undergo cancer treatment for the second time
George Alagiah has returned to presenting the BBC News at Six after taking a year out to undergo cancer treatment.
The veteran broadcaster had to leave his role for the second time in four years in January 2018 after he was diagnosed with bowel cancer.
He received his first diagnosis in 2014 and was given the all clear a year later, but the disease returned in December 2017.
And after a second round of treatment, Alagiah has beaten it again, returning to his role as anchor of the News at Six, which he first started in January 2003.
The 63-year old first co-presented the show with Sophie Raworth, who announced the news of Alagiah’s return at the end of her news bulletin.
Alagiah wrote back: “@sophieraworth there goes my hopes of slipping back into the studio unnoticed! Thanks to all for good wishes. We’ve got the cancer in a holding pattern so it’s back to work with colleagues I respect and the viewers who make it worthwhile. # BBCNewsSix”
The midday presenter replied: “Slipping back unnoticed after a year?! Unlikely @ BBCAlagiah. We are delighted to have you back tonight…at 6 on @ BBCOne Be there. X”
Raworth later tweeted a photograph of her colleague back in the newsroom with a beaming smile.
Back with a beard…1st time on air since December 2017. Join @BBCAlagiah on @BBCOne for tonight’s #BBCNewsSix pic.twitter.com/3TmuCdQjqE
— sophieraworth (@sophieraworth) January 23, 2019
A BBC statement read: “Everyone at the BBC is delighted to see George back in the studio where he belongs.”
He was first diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer in 2014 after finding blood in his stools. A colonoscopy discovered a tumour in his bowel, and MRI scans discovered eight more in his liver.
After three major operations and numerous rounds of chemotherapy, he beat the disease for the first time in late 2015.
Alagiah has said that had he been screened, his cancer would likely have been caught much earlier.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, he said: “Had I been screened, I could have been picked up. Had they had screening at 50, like they do in Scotland … I would have been screened at least three times and possibly four by the time I was 58 and this would have been caught at the stage of a little polyp: snip, snip. “We know that if you catch bowel cancer early, survival rates are tremendous. I have thought: why have the Scots got it and we don’t?”
