Legendary TV actor Dennis Waterman has died at the age of 74, his family have revealed.
Dennis Waterman was one of the most popular television performers of the 70s and 80s. He starred as bodyguard Terry McCann in Minder after first finding stardom as a hard nut cop George Carter in The Sweeny.
In more recent years, he starred as Gerry Standing in the BBC's New Tricks, and throughout his career, other TV roles included ITV's Where The Heart Is, The Canterbury Tales and Moses Jones, both for the BBC.
In a statement, his family said he passed in Spain with his wife Pam at his side.
They said that they were extremely saddened to inform people that their dear Dennis passed away peacefully at his home in Spain, but the family kindly ask that their privacy be respected at this extremely difficult time.
Tributes have flooded in as news broke of Dennis Waterman's death, and producer Jonathan Sothcott tweeted that Dennis Waterman was one of their biggest TV stars throughout the 70 and 80s, an everyman figure who felt like one of them. A natural and fine actor.
He was excellent in The Sweeny, amazing in Minder, and they definitely don't make them like that anymore.
Actor Stuart Anthony said that Dennis Waterman has left us, but he was a gifted and charming man and it was such a loss to the industry.
Newsreader Kay Burley posted that a brilliant actor who was a staple on our screens throughout the 70s and 80s and that she adored The Sweeny and she loved Minder even more.
DIY SOS presenter Nick Knowles also reflected on a charity golf trip he took alongside Dennis Waterman.
Nick Knowles tweeted that he played golf on a tour to Bermuda with Dennis Waterman. He said that he wasn't much of a golfer, but Dennis was, but that it was time spent with Dennis between games that was well worth the trip and that he was a genuinely charming fellow.
Presenter and comedian Paddy McGuinness said he'd always wanted to be the character of Waterman's Terry McCann, and in a tweet, he wrote that he and his Phoenix Nights castmates used to sing the tune to Minder on tour and on the Karaoke and that he was gutted that he never got to meet him because he always wanted to be Terry McCann and that he was another idol from his childhood just gone.
A star has died that can never be replaced. He was one of TV's greats and always good to watch, and he will be having a heavenly drink with John Thaw and George Cole this evening, and condolences to his family at this heartbreaking time.
Watching Minder was fantastic and many people loved watching it, particularly the chemistry between "Terry and Arthur" which was TV gold.
He was such a fantastic actor whose characters were threaded into the fabric of an era which has been all too quickly and sadly disappearing into the past, never to be seen or lived again.
He was a proper all-round geezer, a great actor and full of wonderful laughs.
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