TELEVISION producer Desmond Wilcox was recovering yesterday after being taken to hospital in an air ambulance after a heart attack.
Mr Wilcox, 67, who had a heart bypass operation in 1986, was taken ill with severe chest pain early on Saturday at the family's cottage in the New Forest.
He was flown to Southampton General and underwent an angioplasty procedure and is now in a stable condition.
His wife, TV presenter Esther Rantzen said: ''Saturday was the longest day of my life. The whole family has lived through a nightmare but we are so relieved that he is recovering.''
Mr Wilcox, whose pioneering work includes The Visit, had been due to fly to the United States to start filming an edition of Inside Story.
After his heart surgery in 1986, Mr Wilcox revealed how he had learned to ''treasure'' every day.
Mr Wilcox, who has three children with Ms Rantzen and three from an earlier marriage, said in one interview: ''I photograph my children with my eyes each day. It's almost as if I'm not going to see them again.''
He added: ''I call Esther on her car phone to come back and kiss me goodbye if she forgets, because it might be the last time.''
But the couple admit they are both workaholics.
He is used to working a 72-hour, six-day week, running an independent production company.
A pioneer of programmes about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, Mr Wilcox has endured many stresses and strains.
He has survived three plane crashes, an operation without anaesthetic, and a loss of hearing in his right ear caused by noise on the firing range during National Service.
Last year he appeared on his wife's afternoon show, Esther, to talk about his role as chairman of Defeating Deafness, the national research charity for the 8.5 million deaf people in the UK.
Ms Rantzen said her husband, who has been a prolific campaigner for heart charities, was a patron of Wessex Heartbeat, which has raised money for equipment at the hospital.
''Yesterday a nurse was able to push his bed around to see some of the equipment,'' she said.
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