Radio 4 presenter Steve Hewlett marries partner an hour after being told he may have just weeks to live

(PA)

A BBC presenter battling cancer has married his partner in hospital after being told he may only have weeks to live.

Steve Hewlett, who is in his late 50s, said he was wedded in his hospital room "in an hour" after being told his treatment for cancer of the oesophagus could not continue.

The presenter of Radio 4's The Media Show said preparations began after he was told he had "weeks, possibly months" to live by his consultant at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Chelsea, west London.

"The whole thing was organised in an hour," the father-of-three told PM's Eddie Mair.

"They got a Chelsea registrar, they got a Chelsea vicar hauled out of a dinner she was in with somebody.

"The nurses managed to produce bunches of flowers, a wedding cake, a couple bottles of Prosecco appeared from goodness knows where and then this ceremony begins."

Mr Hewlett, who has presented the show since 2008 and also writes for the Guardian, had been receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Press Association