Time Gentlemen Please actor was 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.

He died last week after a fall.

Published: 28 Jan 2008