Esther Rantzen says she's joined assisted dying clinic

The broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen says she has joined the Dignitas assisted dying clinic in Switzerland.

The 83-year-old told the BBC she is currently undergoing a "miracle" treatment for stage four lung cancer.

If it does not work, "I might buzz off to Zurich", where assisted dying is legal, she told Radio 4's The Today podcast.

But she said she was looking forward to this "precious" Christmas, which she didn't think she would live to see.

Speaking about her decision to join Dignitas, Dame Esther said it was driven in part by her wish that her family's "last memories of me" are not "painful because if you watch someone you love having a bad death, that memory obliterates all the happy times".

If she did travel to Dignitas, that would put "my family and friends in a difficult position because they would want to go with me", Dame Esther told the programme, "and that means that the police might prosecute them".

Under the law in England and Wales, anyone assisting someone to die or accompanying them abroad to do so can be sentenced to up to 14 years in prison.

"We've got to do something. At the moment, it's not really working, is it?" Dame Esther said.

She told the programme that a free vote on assisted dying would be top of the agenda if she were PM for a day.

"I think it's important that the law catches up with what the country wants," she said.

Dame Esther said people are "given the choice over so many other things, medical and otherwise. Why should you not be given the choice about how you want to go and when you want to go?...

"I get all the arguments about... not wanting to be a burden and pressure being applied and all that. But... you can come to the wrong conclusion.

"If you just base everything on the worst case scenario, you've got to have a look at the advantages as well."

Almost a year on from her diagnosis, Dame Esther told Today she had not expected to live with cancer for so long.

"I thought I'd fall off my perch within a couple of months, if not weeks. I certainly didn't think I'd make my birthday in June, which I did, and I definitely didn't think I'd make this Christmas, which I am. It appears, although anything can happen," she said.

Asked which moment in her life she would want to relive, Dame Esther said it was one that had not happened yet: "I think I would like to relive this Christmas - the Christmas that I didn't expect to have with my family is going to be so precious."

"And I think that once it's over, I would like to be able to relive it," she said.

At the time of her diagnosis, Dame Esther said the news had prompted her to express "profound thanks to everyone who has made my life so joyful".

In May, she announced her lung cancer was in stage four, the most advanced stage, which means the cancer has spread beyond the lungs or from one lung to the other.

Dame Esther enjoyed a successful TV presenting career which included hosting BBC consumer show That's Life! for 21 years.

She is also known for launching ChildLine in 1986, the first national helpline for children in danger or distress.

In 2013, she launched the Silver Line, a charity to help elderly people suffering from isolation and loneliness.