Jason Manford leads tributes to popular star who appeared in many shows including Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Coronation Street and The Last Detective
Irish stand-up comedian and actor Sean Hughes has died aged 51 - a representative for the star confirmed he died on Monday October 16 in hospital.
Jason Manford led the tributes to Sean on Twitter following the news of his death.
“Very sad to hear about Sean Hughes,” Jason wrote.
“A brilliant comic and a lovely bloke. RIP.”
Stand-up comic Al Murray wrote: “Terribly sad news about Sean Hughes.”
Comedian Richard Herring said: “Sean Hughes. What a punch in the soul that is.”
Jack Dee said he was “very sad” to hear of the news of Hughes’s death. He added: “Started on the circuit with him back in the day. RIP.”
London-born Irish comedian Sean was best known for being a panellist on BBC2 show Never Mind The Buzzcocks, and for writing and starring in his own sitcom Sean’s Show in the early 1990s.
In 1990, Sean was 24 when he became the youngest winner of the main prize at the Perrier Comedy Awards, now known as the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, for his stand-up show A One Night Stand With Sean Hughes.
Nica Burns, the director of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, said: “He was a huge talent, a really good comic, instinctive timing from day one and a very good writer. He will be missed.”
He also appeared in TV programmes including Coronation Street and The Last Detective, and in Alan Parker’s film The Commitments in 1991.
He returned to Edinburgh in 2007 after a seven-year break with his show the Right Side Of Wrong.
In 2015, Sean joined the cast of the Olivier Award-winning production of The Railway Children.
Away from the stage and screen, Sean was also a writer and had penned two collections of prose and poetry, including Sean’s Book.
He wrote best-selling novels The Detainees and It’s What He Would Have Wanted.
The news of Sean’s death comes just over a week after he posted his final tweet on October 8, in which he told his followers he was in hospital.
Sean Hughes is survived by his two brothers, Alan and Martin.
