Hi-de-Hi! actor Paul Shane part of 'golden age'

David Webb, top right, said Paul Shane had been "great fun" to work with

Hi-de-Hi! actor Paul Shane, who has died aged 72, was part of a "golden age" of television, one of his fellow cast members has said.

Shane died at a hospice in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, on Thursday after a short illness.

David Webb, who played identical twin Stanley Mathews in the 1980s sitcom filmed in Essex, said Shane had been "totally professional and fun".

"Paul was a very talented man and we had lots of laughs," he said.

He made his name playing entertainer Ted Bovis in Hi-de-Hi!, the long-running TV series set in a holiday camp and written by David Croft and Jimmy Perry.

Identical twins David and Tony Webb played brothers Stanley and Bruce Mathews in the programme.

'Talented man'

Former BBC Radio Suffolk presenter David Webb, who lives in Mistley in Essex and now works as an independent film-maker, paid tribute to Shane, saying he was "great fun" to work with.

"Paul was a very ordinary man," he said.

"He was a coal miner but had an accident when he was 25, which meant he couldn't go down the pits any more.

"He became a comedian and then got a part on Coronation Street, where he was spotted by Jimmy [Perry]."

Webb said Hi-de-Hi! had been part of the "golden age" of television.

The comedy was filmed at a real holiday camp in Essex

"Families could sit down together and watch it. There was no swearing and no sex.

"It was a bit like a Carry On film, I suppose," he added.

Hi-de-Hi! was filmed at a real holiday camp run by Warners in the town of Dovercourt, near Harwich.

The cast and crew used to stay at the Cliff Hotel in Dovercourt and often returned for reunions and charity functions.

After the series ended in 1988, the holiday camp site was demolished and replaced by a housing estate.