Abubilla Music

R.I.P. Geoffrey Hughes

Written by Andy Patterson

The sad news came this week that Geoffrey Hughes has died. His presence was a regular feature over the years on UK TV – his turn as Onslow in Keeping Up Appearances is still memorable to me from my youth.

One of his first roles was to voice the part of Paul McCartney in the animation of Yellow Submarine: http://youtu.be/MMngpNTU3PY (I can’t embed unfortunately). Prior to that he had been in the Likely Lads – the Newcastle based story of Terry and Bob.

He was also a part of the Carry -On  franchise – Carry on at Your Convenience – the one about the toilet factory and the union rep (and the works outing to the seaside), and appeared in one episode of Dad’s Army.

For the generation earlier than my own, he is probably best remembered as Eddie Yates – the dustman from Coronation Street, but for my generation, he will be marked by two roles: the aforementioned Onslow, and that of Twiggy from The Royle Family. His recent role in Skins will make him familiar to the younger ‘T4′ generation. His role in Heartbeat also endeared him to the afternoon TV watchers – most of whom will remember him from Coronation Street.

Here’s Onslow:

Here’s Twiggy:

 

I think it is unusual that there is an actor that is know across generations, and known and remembered as fondly as Geoffrey Hughes. Even if you didn’t know his name, you could say ‘Onslow from Hyacinth Bucket’ or ‘Eddie Yates from Coronation Street’ or ‘Twiggy from The Royale Family’ and you’d know who he was.

A sad loss for the world.