Tony Haygarth dies aged 72

British actor Tony Haygarth has died at the age of 72.

Tony Haygarth in Midsomer Murders with Paul Nicholls

Tony’s passing was confirmed earlier today by his daughter’s Katie and Becky on social media while the Sevenoaks Panto company posted online that he died yesterday following a long spell living with Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia.

“We are sad to say that stage and screen actor Tony Haygarth, who was one of our best loved Sevenoaks Panto actors, died yesterday evening , after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia.” – Sevenoaks Panto

The actor was a regular on British TV screens for decades, however began his performing career on the stage; working with companies such as the National Theatre and The Royal Shakespeare Company. Appearances included in The Tempest in London’s West End and on tour in productions such as Little Voice.

Pictured above: Anglia/Meridian’s Where The Heart Is (Tony is pictured far bottom right)

Haygarth reached his biggest audiences via many television roles with his small screen debut in 1968’s Granada Television production Spindoe, where he was billed as Anthony Haygarth. Other appearances followed in classic series such as Thames Television’s Special Branch, the BBC’s Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, ATV’s The Protectors and more substantial roles in shows such as Thames’ Warrior Queen, BBC mini-series I, Claudius, police drama Rosie and, more recently, The Borrowers and Yorkshire Television’s Emmerdale.

One of Tony’s best-known parts, in later years, was that of Vic Snow in Anglia Television’s Where The Heart Is. The show followed the lives of the people of Skelthwaite, a fictional small Yorkshire town. The ITV aired drama focused on the work of the district nurses at the town’s health centre and the families related to them. In the beginning the plots centred on the extended Snow and Goddard family. Tony starred alongside Pam Ferris who played his wife Peggy.

The Liverpudlian actor also appeared in several movies including Percy, Dracula and Chicken Run.

Pictured above: In a scene from YTV’s Emmerdale; with Roxanne Pallett, James Hooton and Tony Haygarth