Roy Hudd dead at 83

oy Hudd has died.

The 83-year-old actor and comedian passed away on Sunday (15.03.20) after a short illness.

A statement from his agent said: "We are sad to announce the passing of the much-loved and amazingly talented Roy Hudd OBE.

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"After a short illness, Roy passed away peacefully on the afternoon of Sunday March 15, with his wife Debbie at his side.

"The family would ask you to respect their privacy at this very sad time."

Roy starred on ITV soap \'Coronation Street\' from 2002 to 2010. He played Archie Shuttleworth, a local undertaker at Shuttleworth\'s Independent Funeral Directors, who was first introduced as battleaxe Blanche Hunt\'s companion.

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He later fell for hairdresser Audrey Roberts but left the cobbles when she did not return his feelings.

Viewers saw Audrey toasting her old friend in a 2018 episode of the show, when it was revealed that Archie had passed away.

Hudd was born in Croydon, Surrey, in 1936 and made his first TV appearance on the BBC\'s \'Not So Much A Programme, More A Way of Life\'.

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The show also featured David Frost, William Rushton, John Bird, Michael Crawford and Eleanor Bron.

He was also known for presenting \'The Roy Hudd Show\' in 1969 and working with screenwriter Dennis Potter in the 1990s on shows such as \'Lipstick On Your Collar\'.

He was seen onscreen in \'Call the Midwife\' in 2012, along with \'Midsomer Murders\' and \'Law & Order\'.

And in 2015, Roy appeared in pantomime in \'Dick Whittington and His Cat\', at the then newly renovated Wilton\'s Music Hall in London.

In 2017 he appeared in ITV\'s \'Broadchurch\' and in 2019 made an appearance as a patient in the BBC\'s Casualty.

Earlier this year, Hudd revealed his hopes that his collection of more than 20,000 song sheets and posters would be donated to the University of Kent archive.

The collection had been due to go to the Suffolk New College in Ipswich but he decided against it after the college told him it would need to "cherry-pick" the collection as it did not have room for all of it.

He told the BBC: "I said \'You take the whole thing or not at all\' because it is a complete collection.

"So it will go to the University of Kent which have fantastic facilities and are able to take the whole collection."