'Brilliant and versatile' Observer and Guardian journalist Sarah Hughes dies at 48

Tributes have been paid to Sarah Hughes, the Observer and Guardian journalist who has died from cancer.

Hughes, a mother of two, was a hugely respected journalist whose work ranged from hard-hitting and acclaimed overseas reportage, to the television and entertainment writing that she went on to specialise in.

Despite her cancer, she had continued to work, and her final Line of Duty recap was published the day before she died, at 48. An open thread will run for the rest of the television series to allow readers to discuss the programme, as her expertise and passion is regarded as irreplaceable.

She wrote a number of candid pieces for the Observer about her illness. In one article, published in November in the Observer magazine, she spoke of coping with cancer against the backdrop of lockdown, her love for her family and the advice she would give to any reader.

“Even in these depressing times try to find some part of the day that is worth relishing, whether it is a moment of beauty half-glimpsed outside, the joy found in escaping into a different world on page or screen, or the pleasure of dressing up for yourself and no one else because it makes you feel fine,” she wrote.

Paul Webster, editor of the Observer, said: “She was a remarkably talented and versatile journalist, writing about TV, films, books, sport, and living life to the full, with insight, elegance and skill.”

Katharine Viner, Guardian editor-in-chief, said: “Sarah was a wonderful writer, who wrote brilliantly about TV, books and much else for the Observer and the Guardian.

“Her episode-by-episode recaps on Line of Duty, Game of Thrones and other shows helped redefine arts writing for the digital age, building warm and loyal communities around each. She also wrote powerfully about her illness. She will be terribly missed both by her colleagues and by her readers.”

Among those paying tribute to her was Jed Mercurio, the television writer and creator of Line of Duty, who said everyone involved in the series was saddened by news of her death.

“Her writing stood out as being inspired by a love of TV, stimulating others to feel the same and adding to her readers’ enjoyment of their favourite programmes. We send our deepest sympathies to her family, friends and colleagues,” he added.

The screenwriter and television producer Sarah Phelps – known for her work on EastEnders and BBC serial adaptations, including Agatha Christie’s The Witness For the Prosecution, The ABC Murders and The Pale Horse, as well as of JK Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy – described Hughes as a “brilliant, brilliant writer”. Phelps said it had always been a great pleasure to talk to her and read her work. “Sarah was such a champion of my work and a passionate generous advocate of TV. She was endlessly curious, hilarious and kind, an incisively brilliant and fearless writer. She will be so very missed,” Phelps said.

Vicky Frost, who was TV and radio editor at the Guardian when Hughes persuaded her to commission increasingly popular episode-by-episode recaps for Game of Thrones and Line of Duty, said she had “a real fan’s eye” for the shows that people were going to get obsessed with.

“I think what makes her recaps so great is that she really watched shows as a fan and valued the conversation the recaps prompted. They really do embody that idea of watching telly with obsessive friends you’ve never met,” she added.

Toby Moses, TV editor at the Guardian, said: “She was a pleasure to work with, both in the office and virtually – she had a skill with a recap that is unsurpassed, the hundreds of adoring commenters were testament to that. She’ll be hugely missed.”

Hughes began her career in sports journalism, writing about basketball and college football for the New York Daily news and covering horse racing and football on her return to the UK. She went on to write for British national newspapers, including the Independent, Independent on Sunday, the i, Telegraph and Metro, as well as the Guardian and Observer.

In 2004 she was shortlisted for an Amnesty International award for her reports with the photojournalist Kate Holt on abuses by UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

“Sarah had a wonderful way of turning interviews from places like the DRC or Burundi into stories that people could relate to,” said Holt, who recalled her portrayal of the lives of teenage girls who were being forced to sleep with UN peacekeepers.

“Sarah carried this ability to see the world through others’ eyes and write eloquently on deeply emotional and complex subjects as her career and life developed.”

She is survived by her husband, Kris, with whom she shared a mutual love of Tottenham Hotspur, and two children, Ruby and Oisín, 13 and 11. “She truly was one of a kind she never took a single sideways step, and was the best wife and mother one could have wished for in their wildest dreams,” he said.