Bobby Ball: Comedian 'larger than life just like on TV'

Bobby Ball appeared in comedy programmes including Last of the Summer Wine

Comedian Bobby Ball, who died after a positive Covid-19 test, was "larger than life just like you saw on the TV", his family has said.

The actor had starred in several sitcoms including Not Going Out, Last of the Summer Wine and Benidorm and died aged 76 in Blackpool on Thursday.

He was one half of comedy duo Cannon and Ball alongside his long-time friend and colleague Tommy Cannon.

Ball's sons Robert and Darren Harper said tributes have been "overwhelming".

Cannon and Ball - whose real names are Thomas Derbyshire and Robert Harper - started out as comics on the cabaret circuit in the north of England.

They were some of the the biggest TV stars with their own Saturday night show on ITV the 1980s until times and tastes changed.

Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball started out as comics on the cabaret circuit in the north of England

Robert said: "He was a like a cartoon - he was no good at doing your maths homework but he was larger than life just like you saw on the TV.

"He just wanted to entertain."

His brother Darren paid tribute to the NHS staff who treated his father: "They were amazing, the care he received he was in such good hands."

"The tributes that have been pouring to him in since his passing have been overwhelming," said Robert, adding, "It has been amazing."

Born in Oldham, Greater Manchester on 28 January 1944, Ball met his comedy partner Cannon while working in a factory as a welder.

Cannon and Ball appeared together on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2005, and were jointly the sixth to be voted out.

In his later years, Ball acted in several sitcoms, including Mount Pleasant and The Cockfields and latterly the BBC One sitcom Not Going Out.

Cannon and Ball were pictured together at the British Soap Awards in 2013