𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Speaking in February 2024, Dame Esther said when she first got in touch with Sir Nicholas, who she called Nicky, she “congratulated him on his extraordinary achievement”.

She told The Radio Times, external he had expressed some disappointment about his efforts, commenting that “not enough” people had been saved.

“I was devastated that he felt he had failed. I wanted to prove to this extraordinary man that every life he had saved was precious,” Dame Esther added.

She invited him onto That’s Life and during his first appearance, his scrapbook was shared with the audience, and two women he had saved as children – Vera Gissing and Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines – revealed their identities to him on TV.

They were sitting either side of Sir Nicholas, who had no idea of the surprise – something Dame Esther recalled as “incredibly moving”.

Lady Milena is one of the most well-recognised Holocaust survivors in the UK.

She left Prague with her younger sister Eva at the age of nine, travelling on a special train arranged by Winton.

The two sisters were looked after by a Tameside family until their mother arrived the following year, having escaped via Norway.

Gissing, who was rescued from Prague in 1939 at the age of 11, lost most of her family during the Holocaust and ended up settling in the UK after the war ended.

“That was the only time in my career when I had to stop recording to wipe away my tears,” Dame Esther also said.

The production team at That’s Life were then contacted by several viewers who had watched the show and realised their connection to Sir Nicholas.

That gave the show’s team an idea which would go on to become one of British television’s most famous moments.

“In our next episode, I asked all those who owed their lives to him to stand, and Nicky, whom we had seated on the front row, turned to see the whole ground floor of the Television Theatre on their feet,” Dame Esther recalled.