Barrie Gosney dies aged 82

[Pip Madeley]

Very sad news

Comedy actor Barrie Gosney – best known for playing Uncle Barrie in Al Murray’s sitcom Time Gentlemen Please – has died at the age of 82. The veteran performer was also a regular on Harry Hill’s Channel 4 show in the Nineties, announcing the show and playing Ken Ford, the guy from The Joy Of Sex book.

Hill told the Evening Post in Gosney’s home town of Reading: ‘Barrie was obviously very experienced and I learned a lot from him. He was very dapper, had very good manners, and was a bit of a gentleman with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

‘He was full of stories about the films in the 1950s and 1960s, about drinking with Robert Mitchum and other stars. He was a brilliant actor with a real love of the business, and he had great comic timing.’

Murray added: ‘He had this amazing warmth he would bring to things and a very old, traditional style. As Uncle Barrie in Time Gentlemen Please he had this catchphrase, “You’re doing fine”, which was just like him because he was always giving you the thumbs up. He was very showbiz and well-connected.’

Time Gentleman Please co-writer Richard Herring paid tribute to the actor on his website.

He said: ‘I loved working with Barrie - he was a terrific fella - and Uncle Barrie was my favourite character to write for in that show, because he, like the actor who played him, was intrinsically loveable. I have been thinking of him all day, with his thumbs up and a look of encouragement on his face saying, "You're doing fine!" He was a star.’

Gosney’s long career included TV roles in Last of the Summer Wine, Doctor in the House, Please Sir and The Beryl Reid Show, as well as straight roles in Z Cars and Dixon Of Doc Green. In films, he appeared in Carry On Jack and worked opposite Frankie Howerd in Up The Front and Up Pompeii.

Mr Gosney died on Wednesday, January 23, at Royal Berkshire Hospital. He had been at a birthday party at The Mill at Sonning on the Sunday when he suffered a fall and was taken to hospital.

Star comedians pay their respects

I loved him as Uncle Barrie in 'Time Gentleman Please' and of course, as Ken Ford in 'The Harry Hill Show'. He'll be sadly missed by this comedy fan.

[Alex]

I read about this last week and it is a terrible shame, like you I really liked him in the Harry Hill Show and Time Gentlemen Please and it's sad to hear he's no longer with us. Still, at least it sounds like he had a good innings.

[SiHart]

I always liked his introductions on the Harry Hill show, and his turn as the man from the Joy of Sex Book, Ken Ford was wonderful.

Si xx