Nicholas Lyndhurst has retired from TV, a pal has revealed.
The comedy legend, 60, is staying out of the spotlight while he grieves the tragic death of his son Archie, who was killed by a brain haemorrhage at just 19 in 2020.
And writer Laurence Marks, who has known Nicholas for more than 25 years, has warned it is unlikely he will ever return to showbiz.
He told the Daily Star Sunday: “Nicholas underwent tragedy. It must have broken his heart. It would break anyone’s heart.
“He has always kept himself to himself and now he’ll do that more than ever. Now he’s lost his son, he’ll never come out again. I doubt we will see him do any more acting.
(Image: Getty Images Europe)
“I would like to say we will see him act again, but I don’t think we will. We will have to live on the visual memories of him and we have loads of them. We have got to be grateful for that.”
Nicholas has had a glittering career in TV for almost five decades.
Millions know him for playing hapless Rodney Trotter on Only Fools And Horses and Gary Sparrow on Goodnight Sweetheart.
Over the years he has also helped make New Tricks, The Two Of Us and Butterflies big hits.
Laurence, who worked with Nicholas on Goodnight Sweetheart, rates him among the best in the business.
He said: “Working with Nicholas was a pleasure, a real pleasure. He was a very quiet, very shy, very reserved, very talented actor. He’s very normal, which is unusual for actors.
(Image: Getty Images)
“He was a really good person to work with because he was really on the ball all the time.
“I would think that as a living performer, nobody has been in shows that have had bigger views than him.”
Nicholas appeared alongside his late son in a 2019 episode of CBBC’s So Awkward.
Archie’s other roles included recurring appearances as a younger incarnation of comedian Jack Whitehall in various TV programmes.
These included BBC Three sitcom Bad Education, in which he was seen as a younger version of Whitehall’s Alfie Wickers character
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
