Television presenter Dame Prue Leith has said she doesn't want to die "in a hospital in screaming agony" as she continues to call for the right to end-of-life choice.

The campaigner and patron of Dignity in Dying, who lives in a modern barn near Moreton-in-Marsh in the Cotswolds, believes individuals dealing with extreme pain and incurable diseases should "have the right to step out of life".

Dignity in Dying is a campaigning organisation calling for ill people to have the option of assisted dying.

Dame Prue's open letter to party leaders, calling for a debate in Parliament prior to the next general election, has garnered 235,969 signatures.

She said: "I am always an interfering woman, so I do campaign for quite a lot of sustainability but also really strongly for the right to die when you want to die.

Oxford Mail: Dame Prue Leith was speaking at the launch of The Big Lunch Dame Prue Leith was speaking at the launch of The Big Lunch (Image: Yui Mok/PA)

"I am not wanting to force anybody to accept euthanasia or anything grim like that.

"I just think the people who have had enough of their life because they are in intolerable pain, they’re dying anyway, why should a good life end with three weeks or even three days of absolute agony when it could be cut short."

Dame Prue has experienced the pain of losing loved ones, with her elder brother David suffering a "really horrible death" from bone cancer over 10 years ago.

Her late husband Rayne Kruger requested doctors for "a bit of assistance" with dying.

Dame Prue continued: "I want to die peacefully in my own bed surrounded by my family.

"No one wants to talk about how many people die in real agony and also who just have absolutely had enough of their lives."

In her letter, Dame Prue emphasises the need for a "safe and legal option" to peacefully and respectfully end a person’s life.

She added: "For some people, it’s that they have lived a very long time, all their friends are dead, all their family is dead, they’re lonely.

"Of course, we should say well they shouldn’t be lonely but there is no good preaching about it, it doesn’t make it go away by saying we should do something about the loneliness.

"Yes, we should, we should do more about palliative care, we should do all we can to make people’s lives happy.

"But if they are totally miserable, and they’re in pain, and they have an incurable disease, for goodness sake they should have the right to step out of life."

In 2023, Dame Prue made a documentary with her son, Tory MP for Devizes Danny Kruger, in which they explored the debate around assisted dying.