Sean Hughes

Hughes died at the age of 51 on 16 October 2017 from the effects of cirrhosis, at Whittington Hospital in North London (the same hospital in which he was born in 1965).

A funeral service was held at St Pancras and Islington Cemetery on 23 October 2017, where, after the mourning party heard eulogies to his memory, listened to recited extracts of some of Hughes' poetry and recorded music from The Smiths, his body was cremated. A wake was held afterwards in a pub in the vicinity.

Hughes took over the role of Stationmaster Mr Perks in the musical The Railway Children at King's Cross Theatre in March 2015.

It was reported that Hughes was a close friend of the late American comedian Bill Hicks, but Hughes stated this was not true. In a 2014 interview, he explained, "It says on my Wikipedia page that I was good friends with him. I wasn't! We were in Australia together, so we hung out. I did get to know him a little bit, which was a real pleasure. When I saw him I just went, 'That's the best comic I'm going to see in my lifetime.'"

In early 2014 Hughes started a podcast called "Under The Radar", running for approx 57 episodes (excluding repeats and split episodes) until December 2016

He played Sergeant Lake in the ITV Agatha Christie's Marple production of They Do It with Mirrors, which was broadcast on 1 January 2010.

Hughes played Brendan in the film version of Tony Hawks' book, Round Ireland with a Fridge (2010). He also played the lead in the film adaptation of Spike Milligan's comic novel, Puckoon. Hughes also voiced Tapir in the three Robbie the Reindeer films.

In 2003, Hughes voiced the part of Finbar the clockwork Shark, one of seven plastic bath toys which come to life whenever no-one is watching in the children's television series Rubbadubbers, shown on CBeebies in the United Kingdom for pre-school children.

As well as comedy, he wrote collections of prose and poetry and worked on a number of films. He also presented weekend radio shows on the BBC's London radio station BBC GLR, and in 2002 joined BBC 6 Music, presenting the Sunday morning programme. He left the station a year after its launch, proclaiming it had turned into everything he had wanted it to be. He also wrote two novels, The Detainees (1998) and It's What He Would Have Wanted (2000).

From 1996 to 2002, he was a team captain on the BBC 2 comedy quiz show Never Mind the Buzzcocks, alongside Phill Jupitus and Mark Lamarr. He can be seen during Terrorvision's music video for their single "Tequila" from 1999 and in the video for The Cure's 1996 single, "The 13th". He appeared in the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe.

He marked his 30th birthday with the Sean Hughes Is Thirty Somehow tour, which was broadcast on Channel 4, in 1995. Hughes returned to stand-up, touring the UK and Australia in 2007 with his show, The Right Side of Wrong.

In 1992, he had his own TV show, Sean's Show, ostensibly set in his own home. It received a nomination for the 1992 British Comedy Award for Best Channel 4 Sitcom. Series one of Sean's Show has been released on DVD. Later, he recorded a series of brief programmes called Sean's Shorts, in which he toured England, visiting many of the country's towns and cities, visiting local places of interest and meeting local people. He appeared in the film Snakes and Ladders shot in Dublin, and released in 1996.

Hughes had a small role in the film The Commitments (1991), playing a record producer.

In 1987 he began appearing at the Comedy Store. In 1990, aged 24, he became the youngest winner of the prestigious Perrier Comedy Award for his show, A One-Night Stand with Sean Hughes.

Sean Hughes (10 November 1965 – 16 October 2017) was an English-born Irish comedian, writer and actor. He starred in his own Channel 4 television show Sean's Show and was one of the regular team captains on the BBC Two musical panel game Never Mind the Buzzcocks.