In The News

TV great Geoffrey Hughes passes away

TV great Geoffrey Hughes passes away

TRIBUTES have been paid to the actor Geoffrey Hughes who has passed away at the age of 68.

Mr. Hughes will be remembered by millions of fans for his roles in some of the top TV shows on British television over past forty years.

As a young actor in the 1960s he had appeared in such shows as The Likely Lads and Z Cars. He also provided the voice of Paul McCartney in the Beatles’ cartoon film Yellow Submarine (1968).

His big break came in the 1970s when he played binman Eddie Yeats on the ITV soap Coronation Street (see below). It was a role which won him a special place in the hearts of the soap’s fans over the nine years he was with the show.

The Merseyside-born actor went on to play another memorable character in the BBC comedy Keeping Up Appearances in which he played the feckless brother-in-law of the show’s super snob Hyacinth Bucket.

In recent years he featured to two of the top-rated TV shows — ITV’s Heartbeat, in which he played wheeler-dealer Vernon Scripps, and in the BBC’s The Royle Family in which he played the character Twiggy.

Away from acting, Mr. Hughes lived on the Isle of Wight where he was appointed Deputy Lord Lieutenant in 2009.

In a statement, the actor’s family said he had passed away following a “long courageous battle” with prostate cancer.

To view an excerpt from an episode of Coronation Street which features Geoffrey Hughes’s character Eddie Yeats, click here.

 

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