Geoffrey Hughes

**Geoffrey Hughes** DL (2 February 1944 – 27 July 2012) was an English actor, best known for his roles as Onslow in *Keeping Up Appearances,* Eddie Yates in *Coronation Street*, Vernon Scripps in *Heartbeat* and as the voice of Paul McCartney in the animated film *Yellow Submarine.*

## Life and career

Geoffrey Hughes was born in Wallasey on the Wirral, Cheshire in 1944, the son of Welshman Bill Hughes, a Liverpool docker, and his Scottish wife, Ada and had one younger brother, Gordon. He was brought up in Liverpool, where he attended Ranworth Square Primary School. He then went to Abbotsford Secondary Modern School in Norris Green, Liverpool where his English teacher, with whom he got on well with encouraged Hughes to pursue acting as a career.

Hughes initially worked as a car salesman upon leaving school, but developed an interest in acting and was part of the Merseyside Unity Theatre in his spare time. It was here that he was spotted in the audience by actor Tom Bell and playwright Alun Owen. Hughes then started his career as a professional actor with a repertory company at the Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent.

However, six months later, he took up Bell's offer and within a year he was starring at the West End's Adelphi Theatre in the Lionel Bart and Alun Owen musical *Maggie May*, about trade union disputes in Liverpool's dockland. He went on to make regular appearances in West End productions like *Say Goodnight to Grandma* at the St Martin's Theatre in 1973; *Run for your Wife*at the Criterion Theatre in 1984; *The Secret Life of Cartoons*at the Aldwych Theatre in 1986 and Noel Cowerd's *Semi-Monde*at the Royalty Theatre in 1987.

   Soon afterwards came a couple of episodes of *The Likely Lads,* Hughes' first television role in 1966. Small roles that followed were those in *An Arrow for Little Audrey*; *The Saint*; *Shadows of Fear and Z-Cars,* butHughes' big break came when he did the voice of Paul McCartney in the Beatles' cartoon film *Yellow Submarine* in 1968. Hughes then had a recurring role in Johnny Speight's controversial sitcom *Curry and Chips* in 1969.This production, which also starred comedy legends Eric Sykes and Spike Milligan, was axed after just six episodes. Hughes would frequently appear in one-off supporting roles in many of the popular television shows of the time. These included Harper in *Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)* in 1970; Piteous in *Up Pompeii!* in 1970 and a corporal in *Dad's Army* in 1972. Hughes appeared in *Carry On At Your Convenience* in 1971 as friendly toilet factory worker Willie.
It was, however, Hughes' role as lovable binman Eddie Yeats in 53 episodes of *Coronation Street,* from 1974 until 1983, that stole the viewing public's hearts. Eddie was an ex-criminal who wanted to get back onto the straight and narrow. He appeared in just the one episode in 1974 and 3 episodes in 1975, the year Hughes married his wife Sue, but by the end of 1976, the soap's producers realised that he could become a major character. He eventually became a lodger with Hilda and Stan Ogden (played by Jean Alexander and Bernard Youens respectively), who treated him like their own son. Eddie had lots of major storylines, and Hughes’ strength was that he portrayed the character as kind-hearted, if a little dim, particularly when it came to Hilda Ogden.

   Eddie helped out on Stan’s window-cleaning round, and the pair often embarked on get-rich-quick schemes, including hiring out a timid guard dog, selling Albert Tatlock's allotment vegetables and  brewing their own beer in the bath. In 1976 it was Eddie Yeats who was responsible for the famous mural (or 'murial' as Hilda called it) that adorned the Ogdens’ living room wall. By 1983, Hughes became concerned that he was regarded as Eddie Yeats rather than as an actor who could play other parts. He also felt that his weekly trips to the Granada studios in Manchester were keeping him away too long from his family and farm in Northants. The producers wrote him out of the script when Eddie married flower shop assistant Marion Willis (played by Veronica Doran) and they moved to Bury. Eddie did return for two more episodes in 1987, to visit Hilda Ogden in hospital.Type-casting wasn't a problem for  Hughes, and he continued to work regularly throughout the 1980s. He found a variety of roles in many different TV series. There was the lead role of prison warder Mr Lithgow in *The Bright Side* in 1985; villainous Victorian Mr Popplewick in *Doctor Who* in1986 opposite Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor; Fred Kendall in *You Rang, M'Lord?* in1990 and as Roy Hartley in*Coasting* to name but a few.

   Ahead of him, Hughes had  recurring roles in several high-profile, long-running series which kept him in work permanently.  The first of these came in 1990, as Onslow in all 44 episodes of Roy Clarke's extremely popular sitcom *Keeping Up Appearances.* Onslow was the lazy, slobbish but lovable brother-in-law of super snob Hyacinth Bucket (played by Patricia Routledge) who was married to Hyacinth's sister Daisy (played by Judy Cornwell) and proved to be a frequent embarrassment to her. Owing to his success in the role, the character of Onslow was regarded as the most popular character of the series. Hughes would play the role alongside comedy stars Josephine Tewson, Clive Swift, Mary Millar and David Griffin until the show's end in 1995, but returned for a short "best bits" special episode in 1997.

In 1996,Hughes was diagnosed with prostate cancer, a disease that would affect Hughes for the rest of his life. Hughes made eight appearances over a ten-year period from 1998 until 2008 in the popular Liverpool comedy series *The Royle Family*.  He played the oddly lovable scrounger Twiggy, and although this was not a main character, Hughes still still provided much humour whenever he appeared. In 1999, Hughes met Prince Charles at an event, where they shared a joke together.

Hughes' next major series was in 88 episodes of the police series *Heartbeat*, set in a picturesque village in the North Yorkshire Moors. From 2001 until 2007, he played Vernon Scripps, a wheeler-dealer who had a heart of gold, but didn’t always go about things in the right way. Hughes took over the role from Bill Maynard, who played a very similar character, Claude Greengrass, before him. In 2003, Hughes and his wife Sue moved to the Isle of Wight and lived in an eco-home surrounded by 23 acres of woodland where he and Sue grew organic vegetables and sold wood chippings.

Hughes usually appeared in pantomime over the Christmas period. He also appeared in various short films that were sold in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support in 2007. At Christmas 2008, he returned to play Twiggy in *The Royle Family's Christmas Special* titled "The New Sofa" and as Onslow in the *Keeping Up Appearances* one off episode "Life Lessons From Onslow". Finally in 2009 he played Uncle Keith in E4’s Bafta-winning teen drama Skins. Hughes had semi-retired and turned his back on his successful TV career.

Hughes became interested in horticulture, promoted his neighbour’s lavender farm and even had a bloom named after him at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2009 – sweet pea Geoff Hughes. In 2009 he was appointed Deputy Lord Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight.

In 2009, Hughes thought he had finally beaten the cancer he had been struggling to cope with for five years, but in 2010 while attending a charity event, he suffered from extreme back pains, so painful he couldn't even stand up and was taken to Portsmouth’s Queen Alexandra Hospital where doctors told him the disease was back. In 2012 Hughes collapsed in his home on the Isle of Wight and was rushed to hospital for intense radiotherapy, Hughes died from the illness, aged 68. Doctors said that he had died "peacefully in his sleep". He was survived by his wife Sue.

## Personal interests

Hughes' off-stage interests were sailing, golf, cricket, rock music, trees and beer. He was also the Honorary Squire of the Dartington Morris Men and made an appearance at the Dartington Morris Ring meeting in September 2008. His musical interests included British folk rock and he compered at Fairport's Cropredy Convention annual music festival several times.