Theo Burrell spent fifteen years around fragile objects, and the last four fighting something she could not fix. The ceramics and glass specialist from Antiques Roadshow died on Wednesday 8 July at 39, of glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
“It is with great sadness that I share the news that Theo passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on Wednesday afternoon,” her family wrote. “Neither she nor her medical team foresaw this happening quite so quickly.”
From the saleroom to television
Born in Edinburgh in 1986, Burrell studied at the University of Glasgow, finishing a Master of Letters in Decorative Arts. She had started young at the auction house Lyon & Turnbull, working on the viewing staff as a teenager and returning as an intern during her postgraduate studies.
She joined the firm as a specialist in July 2011. A year later she qualified as an auctioneer and began running sales across a range of categories. Her strengths were European ceramics, glass and decorative arts, especially late nineteenth and twentieth century pieces. Seven years on, in 2018, she joined the Roadshow’s team of experts.
Turning a diagnosis into a campaign
Doctors diagnosed her in June 2022, when she was 35, after months of severe migraines and neurological symptoms. She had brain surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and she spoke openly about what a terminal diagnosis felt like.
In 2023 she became a patron of Brain Tumour Research and helped launch the Scottish Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence, which links the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, the charity and the Beatson Cancer Charity. The aim is to develop new glioblastoma treatments and carry them toward clinical trials.
In March 2026 she toured the centre with Wes Streeting, then Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and days later appeared at Holyrood for the launch of the charity’s Manifesto for Scotland. That month she also took part in a Department of Health and Social Care video. “Things may be too late for me,” she said there, “but I definitely can make peace with that if I know that the situation’s gonna be better for future patients.”
Dan Knowles, the charity’s chief executive, said she was open about her prognosis and “absolutely determined to make a difference for others.”
Burrell lived in East Lothian. She leaves her husband, Alex, their young son, her parents Ian and Marion, and her brother Tom.
Sources
- Theo Burrell – Wikipedia
- Antiques Roadshow Expert Theo Burrell Dies at 39 After Years of Cancer Battle
