COMIC actor Eric Sykes has died at the age of 89 after a short illness.

In a wide-ranging career on stage and screen, the Oldham performer, radio scriptwriter, director, producer and novelist will be remembered best for the long-running Sykes And A... television series with Hattie Jacques. In 2005, he played Frank Bryce in the film Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire.

Mr Sykes, who wrote scripts for York-born Frankie Howerd, Peter Sellers, Stanley Unwin and The Goon Show, last performed in York in July 1996 as a fastidious tax inspector in Ray Cooney’s Fools Rush In, starring alongside Dennis Waterman.

In August 1994, he appeared there with Britt Ekland, Robin Askwith and Ian Lavender in another Cooney farce, Run For Your Wife During the week-long run, he conducted the ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the Cumberland Street theatre’s Eric Sykes Bar, established by his friend Chris Moreno, the general manager at the time. The dress circle bar continues to bear his name and photographs of Mr Sykes hang on its walls.

Mr Sykes died peacefully this morning with his family by his side.