In Memory Of

[cozerocks]

Hi-de-Hi! star dead at 72


Hi-de-Hi! actor Paul Shane has died at the age of 72 following a short illness.

The star of the 1980s BBC sitcom was surrounded by friends and family in a hospice in his home town of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, when he died.

Paul Shane played holiday camp host Ted Bovis throughout Hi-de-Hi's 1980-1988 run. Set in a holiday camp in the late 1950s/early 1960s, Maplin's holiday camp was the scene of japes, fiddles and scrapes galore as wide-boy Ted Bovis concocted scheme after scheme to get one over on haughty camp manager Jeffrey Fairbrother (the late Simon Cadell).

The show also featured genial camp comic Spike Dixon (actor Jeffrey Holland), glamorous, razor-tongued senior yellowcoat Gladys Pugh (actress Ruth Madoc) and chalet-maid/wannabe-yellowcoat Peggy Ollerenshaw (Su Pollard).

Paul Shane went on to work again with Jeffrey Holland and Su Pollard, with whom he remained close, on a couple of other projects in an attempt to recapture the magic of Hi-de-Hi!

Hundreds of tributes were posted on Twitter, among them one from Ricky Gervais who called Paul Shane an "old school Britcom hero" and former EastEnders actor Shaun Williamson (Barry) wrote: "RIP Comedy Legend".
source http://uk.msn.com/