Christopher Beeny: Upstairs, Downstairs actor dies at 78

Jacqueline Tong and Christopher Beeny in Upstairs, Downstairs

Christopher Beeny, known for roles in Upstairs, Downstairs and BBC sitcom Last of the Summer Wine, has died at the age of 78, his son has confirmed.

Beeny played the cheeky footman, chauffeur and butler Edward Barnes in Upstairs, Downstairs in the 1970s.

Beeny (left) and Tom Owen in Last of the Summer Wine

He also appeared as incompetent debt collector Herman, who changed his name to Morton, in Last of the Summer Wine.

Beeny began his career as a child actor in the UK's first TV soap opera, The Grove Family, in the mid-1950s.

Beeny (left) with the cast of The Grove Family

He also starred as a hapless undertaker opposite Dame Thora Hird in the sitcom In Loving Memory, which ran on ITV from 1979-86.

The actor's son Rick Blackman wrote on Twitter: "I have some sad news to impart. On Friday 3rd of January my old dad Christopher Beeny died at his home in Kent. He was 78. Comforted to know he was not alone at the end and was in his armchair".