Heartbeat Star Bill Maynard dies at 89

Heartbeat star Bill Maynard has died at 89 years old after a career spanning eight years.

Daughter-in-law Jacqueline Reddin has announced that he died in hospital in Leicestershire, just after falling from a mobile scooter and breaking his hip.

"He was larger than life and he just loved showbiz," she said. "He was so proud of this fact that he had been working for 81 decades."

He was perhaps best called Claude Jeremiah Greengrass at Heartbeat.

Maynard - Walter Williams is his real name- was the scruffy, bizarre poacher in the police drama for eight decades, from 1992 to 2000, and was in its own spin-off The Royal before 2003.

Other roles was In Sickness and In Health. He also made appearances Carry On films Carry On At Your Convenience, Carry On Matron and Carry On Dick, and was Sergeant Beetroot at TV series Worzel Gummidge in 1980.

Maynard's most recent appearance was a small role in The Moorside, and Shannon Matthews.

Outside of acting, Maynard tried his hand at singing - coming second at the British heat of their 1957 Eurovision Song Competition - and - politics, standing as an independent from Tony Benn in the 1984 Chesterfield by-election.

From 2003 to 2008 he had a BBC Radio Leicester series and he celebrated 60 years since his very first TV appearance in 2013 by releasing a version of What a superb World.

Speaking at the time, he said, "Making people laugh and smile brings me plenty of personal gratification".

"I am happy to be still in the entertainment business doing exactly what I love most - 76 years since I began my career," he had said. "I have had an wonderful career and I consider myself to be very blessed to still have the capacity and love to take on work."

Maynard's daughter-in-law said he had recently filmed an episode of BBC One quiz show Pointless, that was to broadcast.

He has a daughter and a son, 5 grandchildren and even 3 great-grandchildren.