This Morning regular Gyles Brandreth has opened up about the death of one of his “best friends”.
The TV star, 77, was back on the ITV show – hosted by Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley – on Monday (June 9).
During the show though, Gyles spoke about the “sad” death of one of his dead friends and revealed his heartbreak when they died.
Gyles Brandreth reveals sad death on This Morning
Gyles appeared on This Morning alongside Camilla Tominey to chat about the latest news and headlines from around the world.
The conversation soon turned onto the topic of best friends – in which Gyles made a sad admission.
“Do you have any old friends from school?” Cat asked her guests.
Gyles replied: “I do, my best friend from school. Sadly I lost him when he was only in his 40s.
“People will have heard of him, well an older generation will. He was an actor called Simon Cadell. He was in Hi-de-Hi!”
Gyles on his friendship with Simon
Photos of Gyles and Simon then appeared on the screen as Gyles pointed out: “That’s him at our wedding!”
Reflecting on Simon, Gyles said: “He was lovely. We were at school together and he was a year younger than me.”
Gyles then recalled: “I put on a production when I was 13 or 14 of Sherlock Holmes. He played Holmes. He was brilliant!”
‘It was great sadness’
Sharing more about his dear friend, Gyles continued: “He went on to be a very successful actor, he played Hamlet.
“He was a lovely guy. It was a great sadness for me to lose him, because you do need your best friends.”
Sending her support, Cat said: “Aw.”
Simon played the role of Jeffrey Fairbrother in the first five series of BBC’s Hi-de-Hi!
In January 1993, Simon – a heavy smoker – suffered a heart attack. As a result, he underwent a triple heart bypass surgery but was diagnosed with lymphoma later that year.
He died aged 45 in London on 6 March 1996.
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