Maarten Spanjer: De Telegraaf To Publish Final 18 Columns

There is still more Maarten Spanjer on the way. Days after the beloved actor and TV host passed away at 73, De Telegraaf has confirmed it plans to publish the unpublished columns he wrote before his death. Around eighteen finished pieces are sitting in the newspaper's drawers, and they will see the light of day after all.

The news came from Evert Santegoeds, editor-in-chief of the Dutch celebrity weekly Privé, on Sunday evening. According to Santegoeds, Spanjer wrote roughly 25 columns in total. Only seven of them had been published when he died. That leaves about eighteen unseen pieces, and De Telegraaf intends to print them.

What Happened: Maarten Spanjer Columns Saved From the Archive

It almost didn't happen. Many columns written by public figures never surface once their author is gone — sometimes the family holds them back, sometimes the paper decides it's inappropriate. But Santegoeds told ANP that De Telegraaf wants to publish Spanjer's remaining work, calling the whole project "bewonderenswaardig," remarkable.

The decision makes sense when you know the story behind them. After Spanjer was diagnosed with bladder and prostate cancer in 2025, he didn't go quiet. He grabbed a notebook. The three weeks he spent in the hospital became the raw material for a weekly column series called Uitgeluld, which started running every Saturday in De Telegraaf at the end of August.

That title is classic Spanjer — untranslatable Dutch slang with a cheeky edge. And the columns themselves sounded like him too: laconiek, dry, with the joke always at his own expense.

The Uitgeluld Series: Hospital Humor in His Own Voice

So what were these Maarten Spanjer columns actually about? The details of hospital life, written the way only he could write them.

He described the stomazak (stoma bag) he had to get used to after surgeons removed his bladder and prostate in a major operation. He wrote about the peculiar jargon of the nursing staff. He even wrote, with total honesty, about the vanity he lost along the way.

The most recent published piece set the tone perfectly: Spanjer turned an internal bowel examination into comedy. He told HP/De Tijd about the night a nurse asked whether he had already had a bowel movement. His answer: "No — just a cup of tea and a rusk." That's the voice his readers got every Saturday: a 73-year-old man finding something to laugh about in the least funny situation imaginable.

According to Santegoeds, Spanjer never set out to become a columnist. Someone else suggested he should write down everything he was going through in the hospital. "Schrijven deed hij heel graag," Santegoeds said — he loved writing. The idea came to him, and the columns poured out.

Who Was Maarten Spanjer?

For readers coming to this story fresh: Spanjer was one of the most recognizable faces on Dutch television. He first broke through in Paul Verhoeven's 1980 film Spetters, then became a household name as the cab-driving host of Taxi, where he interviewed unsuspecting passengers during their ride. I wrote about his Taxi legacy and career here.

Beyond acting, he built a real career as a writer — books like Eigen schuld, Moedeloos voorwaarts, Maarten maakt vrienden and Geluk is een herinnering appeared from 1986 onward. For his seventieth birthday he released De kunst van het loslaten, a collection of stories from his own life. The Uitgeluld columns were simply the final chapter of that writing life.

When Will the Unpublished Columns Be Released?

Here's what we know — and what we don't. The exact schedule has not been decided yet. Santegoeds said it's still unclear whether the columns will appear every week or at a faster pace. HP/De Tijd reported that De Telegraaf plans to publish the remaining columns "in the coming period," and noted that a new one was already appearing the day after the announcement.

The natural bet is that the paper sticks to the Saturday rhythm the series had while Spanjer was alive — that would spread eighteen columns across roughly four months and give readers a steady stream of his final words. But nothing is confirmed, and the paper may choose to move faster.

What matters is that these pieces exist at all. Roughly eighteen columns, written by a man who knew his time was short, in the sharp, self-mocking voice that made him famous. For his fans, it's one last season of Spanjer — posthumous, but unmistakably him.

If you're catching up on this story, start with our report on his passing and the reaction across the Netherlands.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Maarten Spanjer columns are still unpublished?

Spanjer wrote around 25 columns in total for De Telegraaf, and only seven were published before his death. That leaves approximately eighteen unpublished pieces, which the newspaper now plans to publish.

When will De Telegraaf publish the remaining columns?

The schedule hasn't been confirmed yet. According to Privé editor-in-chief Evert Santegoeds, it's still unclear whether the columns will appear weekly or more frequently. The paper has said the rest will be published in the coming period, with a new column already appearing the day after the announcement.

What are the columns about?

The Uitgeluld series covers Spanjer's hospital experiences after his 2025 bladder and prostate cancer diagnoses — life with a stoma, nursing-staff jargon, lost vanity, and medical exams, all told with his trademark dry, self-deprecating humor.

About the Author

Sidra Salman is the founder of Dutch Stars Daily, where she writes practical, research-backed guides on Dutch celebrities and entertainment news. Every guide is tested and written in plain English for a US audience.