Geoffrey Hughes, who played the lovable slob Onslow to Patricia Routledge’s maddening snob Hyacinth on the Britcom Keeping Up Appearnances, died a week ago today of prostate cancer. He was 68.
Although Keeping Up Appearances wasn’t among the Britcoms I first watched as a teenager, I feel like it was, perhaps because I’ve seen each episode countless times. Watching Hughes as Onslow in his undershirt, drinking a beer, slapping the TV, and remarking “Oh, nice” in that sarcastic way that only he could deliver has been a near-ritual since the show premiered in the U.S. back in the early 1990s.
It’s too bad that we in the States haven’t been able to see Hughes in much beyond Keeping Up Appearances. He appeared in quite a number of British TV series, most notably Coronation Street and Heartbeat, neither of which has ever aired in the U.S. However, you can catch him in Skins, his last series, on Hulu.
I’m going to check it out. Maybe you’ll join me.
May Geoffrey Hughes rest in peace.
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