Tributes to Romper Room presenter, Helen Madden

It is understood that Ms Madden, an award-winning actress and writer, died at her home in Belfast. She was in her 70s.

Former colleagues paid tribute to her recalling the joy she brought to children by simply saying their name through a magic mirror in UTV’s Romper Room

and they sang along to the ‘Do-Bee Song’.

Ken Reid, UTV’s political editor, described her “a tremendous character” he felt “privileged to have known.”

TV presenter Eamonn Holmes said: “I too worked with her... a total bundle of energy. Sad news. May she rest in peace.”

UTV anchorman Paul Clark added: “Such sad news. I worked with Helen at BBC Northern Ireland back in the day.

“Like so many others I remember watching Miss Helen in Romper Room on Ulster Television.”

After Romper Room, Ms Madden worked for the BBC for several years producing and presenting programmes ranging from documentaries to Woman’s Hour to programmes for schools.

In recent years, she trained as a celebrant with the British Humanist Society and worked as an independent celebrant, performing funerals, including at Roselawn Crematorium in Belfast, as well as child naming and marriages.

She was also a talented writer, winning an award from the Arts Council NI as well as the inaugural Norman Mailer/GQ Writing Prize.

She appeared in Hunger, a film about one of the most iconic republican figures, Bobby Sands, playing his mother.

Born in Belfast in the 1940s, she was reticent about her exact age, stating: “just say I am old enough to travel free throughout Ireland.”

Helen Madden is survived by her husband Brian Walker, a former BBC political correspondent, daughter Rebecca and son Simon.

*The News Letter’s Roamer will be paying tribute to Helen Madden in his column on Wednesday recounting the many miles they spent together on the highways and byways of Ulster interviewing countless local characters for Helen’s award-winning Up County programme on BBC Radio Ulster.