Irish stand-up star and BBC quiz show panellist Sean Hughes has died, his management company has said.
Hughes, who was a team captain on Never Mind the Buzzcocks on BBC Two, also had his own sitcom, Sean’s Show.
He died on Monday, his spokesman said. Hughes’ latest tweet, dated 8 October, said that he was in hospital.
Fellow comedians including Al Murray, Katy Brand and Jason Manford have been paying tribute to Hughes, who was also a writer and actor.
Hughes was the youngest person to win the coveted Perrier Award – now known as the Edinburgh Comedy award – in 1990.
Brand described him as “a brilliant comedian”.
Murray said it was “terribly sad news”. And Richard Herring described the news as “a punch in the soul”.
Hughes had a varied career, including a role in hit film The Commitments.
He also played station master Mr Perks in the award-winning London play, The Railway Children.
On TV, he starred in ITV series The Last Detective, where he played Mod Lewis, friend to Peter Davison’s title character, DC Dangerous Davies.
As well as his role as Pat on Coronation Street, he also appeared in BBC One’s Casualty in 2015.
Source: BBC