Michael Sleggs thanksgiving service held in Cirencester

The thanksgiving service was held at Michael Sleggs' local church in Cirencester

Hundreds of people have paid respects to a star of BBC Three's This Country Michael Sleggs who died aged 33.

Senior pastor Matt Frost told the thanksgiving service at Circencester Baptist Church that Sleggs, who died of heart failure earlier this month, seemed to be "something of a legend".

Sleggs had already been well-known in Cirencester, but he found wider fame in the BBC Three hit mockumentary series.

The service included a reading of the Death of Lazarus.

It also included hymns Amazing Grace and In Lord Alone.

This Country is a mockumentary about the day-to-day lives of a group of friends who live in a small Cotswolds village

Mr Frost added: "He's been on the TV for the past three years with This Country but if that hadn't happened there would still be enormous numbers of people here because of the way he was."

Members of the congregation were also handed bookmarks with a printed version of one of his last Facebook posts.

Bookmarks with one of his last Facebook posts were handed out in the church

This post told his friends and followers that he was going into palliative care due to his heart failure and how his faith had helped him.

"He got to the point where he was recognising his life was coming to an end, his health conditions since he was a child, his battle with cancer when he was younger, and finally his body was giving up.

"In recognising that, the faith that he had, throughout all his life, has ebbed and flowed partly as a consequence of his poor health became incredibly strong at the end," said Mr Frost who had supported him throughout his illness.

"He shared this post much to the surprise of his family at the end of May and it just exploded, and shared thousands and thousands of times."

The mockumentary chronicled the lives of people living in a small village in the Cotswolds.

In the show, Sleggs - a personal friend of its co-creators and stars Charlie and Daisy May Cooper - had terminal cancer and drew up a bucket list, which included playing Laser Quest.