On The Buses star Stephen Lewis was 88

Stephen Lewis, who played Blakey in On the Buses, has died aged 88, his family has announced.

They say the actor – who also played Smiler in Last of the Summer Wine – died ‘quite peacefully’’ in a nursing home in Wanstead, east London, in the early hours of today.

His nephew Peter Lewis said: 'He had terrible arthritis in one knee which really badly affected him, and many years ago he had prostate cancer — and whether that had come back we don’t know.'

Rashid Ebrahimkhan, manager of the Cambridge Nursing Home, told the BBC: ‘He still had his sense of humour, very much so. He was very resilient until the last.”

Born in east London in 1926, Lewis got his start at the Theatre Royal Stratford East under Joan Littlewood, but shot to fame as the sour-faced nemesis of Reg Varney's bus driver Stan Butler in the 1970s sitcom, prompting his catchphrase: ‘I 'ate you, Butler.’

The ITV show also spawned three films: On the Buses, Mutiny on the Buses and Holiday on the Buses, and a Spanish-based spin-off Don't Drink the Water. Lewis also had parts in Oh Doctor Beeching, One Foot in the Grave, and 2point4 Children.

Published: 13 Aug 2015