A spokesman for her family said she was "seriously ill".

He added: "I can confirm she is seriously ill and being cared for at the Royal Sussex County hospital.

"Her son James and closest friends have asked for her privacy to be respected."

Four years ago Ms Barnes suffered the tragedy of losing her 24-year-old daughter, Clare, who died after falling 14,000 feet in a parachute accident in Australia.   

The 63-year-old became  a household name in the eighties when she was the regular presenter on News At Ten.

She was most recently seen on television in January, presenting a documentary about a former colleague who had become an alcoholic, called Saving Ed Mitchell.

Ms Barnes has been married and separated twice, first to Labour MP Denis McShane, with whom she had Clare, then to cameraman Nigel Thompson.

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