Channel 4’s 8 Out of 10 Cats and 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown star Sean Lock has died following his battle with cancer.
Sean regularly featured on the Channel 4 comedy shows, which are hosted by Jimmy Carr.
In 2005, Sean was given one of the leading panellist roles on 8 Out of 10 Cats, and spent 10 years on the show.
The star is also known for featuring on a number of other television and radio programmes, including Have I Got News for You, QI, and They Think It’s All Over.
A statement from his agent, Off The Kerb Productions, read: “It is with great sadness that we have to announce the death of Sean Lock.
“He died at home from cancer, surrounded by his family.
“Sean was one of Britain’s finest comedians, his boundless creativity, lightning wit and the absurdist brilliance of his work, marked him out as a unique voice in British comedy.
“Sean was also a cherished husband and father to three children.
“Sean will be sorely missed by all that knew him.
“We kindly request that the privacy of his family and children is respected at this difficult time.”
Comedian Lee Mack, who was a close friend, paid tribute saying: “I’ve known this day was coming for some time, but it’s no less heart-breaking.
“A true original both in comedy and life. I will miss him so much.”
Before he became a comedian, Sean worked on a building site, which he said attributed to his
skin cancer diagnosis in 1990.
He blamed his over-exposure to the sun for getting the deadly disease, but made a full recovery and focused on a career in comedy.
In 1993, he made one of his first professional TV appearances when starring on Newman And Baddiel In Pieces.
He also script-edited the 1998 BBC Two series, Is It Bill Bailey? and later went on to have his own show on BBC Radio 4 called 15 Minutes Of Misery.
This was later expanded into the popular BBC sitcom 15 Storeys High, which he continued to write and star in.
The TV series was set in a tower block and centred on a pessimistic character called Vince, who was played by Sean, and his flatmate Errol, played by Benedict Wong.
In 2005, the star went on to become a regular face and team captain on the panel show 8 Out Of 10 Cats, a position he held for 18 series.
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Almost a decade after his time on a building site, Sean identified a mysterious black patch of skin on his back.
During his single days, a woman who he spent the night with alerted him to the alarming symptom.
Back in 2010, Sean told the Daily Mail: “Because she noticed something about me that I hadn’t.
“She said there was something weird on my back.
“I asked her what it looked like, and she said it was a patch of skin which was black, misshapen, with a crusty texture and about the size of a 10p piece.
(Image: Channel 4)
“I had no idea how long it had been there. It didn’t hurt or itch, so there was nothing that would have drawn my attention to it.”
Sean went to see a GP about the patch on his back, and was referred to a dermatologist at Guy’s Hospital, London.
The dermatologist immediately removed the piece of skin and carried out a biopsy on the sample, which revealed he had malignant melanoma – skin cancer.
After his diagnosis, he gave his support to a Sun Awareness event for patients and the public which took place at the same hospital.
At the time he said: “Being sun aware is really important, particularly as a parent. It’s best to prevent sunburn in the first place, but if you have been burnt, and getting dodgy moles checked as soon as possible is vital because skin cancers can spread very quickly.
“I was lucky three times over – first that someone pointed out the lesion on my back, second that I quickly went to get it looked at, and third that I got great treatment from the dermatologists at Guy’s and St Thomas’. Leaving it just three to four months later could have resulted in a very different ending.”
He is survived by his wife Anoushka Giltsoff and their three children.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
