This Morning presenter Eamonn Holmes poses for photos with the public
Friends, family, fans and celebrity colleagues of Denise Robertson have paid tribute to the agony aunt who won the hearts of millions of TV viewers.
The twice-widowed great-grandmother, who worked on ITV's This Morning since it debuted in 1988, died from pancreatic cancer aged 83.
Hundreds of people packed into Sunderland Minster and filled the road outside in honour of the TV icon.
This Morning and Sky News presenter Eamonn Holmes, who first worked alongside Robertson at the BBC in the 1980s, spoke at the service.
"You think when you leave school or university or college that's you finished with passing tests - until you met Denise Robertson, the matriarch of studio eight," he told mourners.
"Never was there a more shrewd judge of character.
"She could spot a fake at a hundred paces but once you were in as a graduate of the Robertson Academy of Life then you had a mum, an aunt, a best friend, a shoulder to cry on and a friend for life."
Holmes said the TV agony aunt had saved many desperate people's lives with her support which lasted well past any broadcast.
Speaking before the funeral, This Morning's Phillip Schofield said she worked tirelessly to help others.
"She was feisty, really, really tenacious and would power through authority," he said.
"If someone told her 'no', it wouldn't make any difference."
As her coffin was driven away after the hour-long service, the crowd that had gathered outside the church applauded.
Robertson was awarded an MBE a decade ago and given the Freedom of the City of Sunderland.
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