Tributes Paid To Geoffrey Hughes

Tributes have been paid to the actor Geoffrey Hughes whose death was announced yesterday.

The actor will be remembered for several different roles in high profile television shows; to soap fans he will be remembered as Eddie Yates in Coronation Street. Hughes appeared in the Granada soap between 1974 and 1983 and was famously a lodger of Hilda Ogden (Jean Alexander).

Following his departure from the soap opera Hughes played Onslow, brother-in-law of social snob Hyacinth Bucket (Patricia Routledge) in the BBC comedy series Keeping Up Appearances. More recently Hughes played Twiggy in the popular BBC One comedy series The Royle Family. Between 2001 and 2007 he played wheeler-dealer Vernon Scripps in ITV drama Heartbeat and following his exit from the 1960s based series appeared in several episodes of E4’s critically acclaimed teen-drama Skins.

Tributes to Geoffrey Hughes were led by Ricky Tomlinson, his co-star in The Royle Family, who told ITV’s Meridian News “Geoff wasn’t just an actor. He was my mate. I used to call him every few weeks but hadn’t spoken to him in about a fortnight. It’s such a loss.”

Benidorm writer Derren Litten also paid tribute to the actor and revealed he had be hoping to secure Hughes for a role in the ITV comedy “Oh dear, more sad news. Actor Geoffrey Hughes has died. Tried to work with him on Benidorm & was told his health was bad. RIP”

William Roache, who plays Ken Barlow on Coronation Street, said “I am so sorry to hear about Geoffrey. He was a warm, lovable actor, with great comedy timing. He will be greatly missed, one of the Street’s memorable characters”.

Helen Worth, who joined the soap as Gail Potter in 1974 – better known today as Gail McIntyre – also paid tribute to her former co-star saying “Geoff was a very dear friend for many years, and I’m very sad to hear the news of his passing. He was a master of gentle comedy and brought pleasure to so many people. He will be sadly missed.”

Sally Lindsay worked with Geoffrey Hughes in an episode of The Royle Family before landing her role of Shelley Unwin in Coronation Street. The actress also paid tribute writing on Twitter “he was so kind RIP lovely man x”.

Geoffrey Hughes: 2nd February 1944 – 27th July 2012