Andy De La Tour was one of the fringe theatre performers who were there at the foundation of Alternative Cabaret as the Seventies turned into the Eighties, alongside the likes of Alexei Sayle and Tony Allen. He and took the political foundations of that movement very seriously: playing Republican gigs in Troubles-scarred Belfast and sparking a fight in the early days of the Comedy Store when his comments about Auschwitz didn’t go down to well with the skinhead racists in the room.

He went on to perform an Edinburgh show with Ben Elton; appear in all the hip comedy shows of the day from The Young One to Bottom to Saturday Live; and support Rik Mayall on tour.

But on March 14, 1990,when those 100 support dates were over, he decided to retire from stand-up – and become a straight actor and writer. He subsequently appeared in Kavanagh QC and The Brief, as well as various stage roles, and has written episodes of Boon, Lovejoy andPeak Practice.

His sister is the actress Frances de la Tour, who found sitcom fame playing Mrs Jones in Rising Damp.