Dennis Waterman’s final appearance on screen was in the Australian comedy film Never Too Late, which premiered in 2020.
The 74-year-old actor tragically died today, his family confirmed in a statement.
The actor, who was best known for his roles in television shows Minder, The Sweeney and New Tricks, died on Sunday afternoon with wife Pam at his side.
A statement said: “We are deeply saddened to announce that our beloved Dennis passed away very peacefully in hospital in Spain.”
“The family kindly ask that our privacy is respected at this very difficult time.”
The actor most recently hit screens in the Mark Lamprell directed film Never Too Late as Jeremiah Caine, starring alongside James Cromwell, Shane Jacobson, and Jacki Weaver.
The film sees four former prisoners of war who famously broke out of their prisoner of war camp during the Vietnam War reunite in their twilight years for another daring mission: to escape a nursing home.
The group are all residents of the same retirement home for returned veterans, where they are not allowed to leave under the Mental Health Act.
But the four men hatched a plan to break out of the home in an attempt to fulfil their individual dreams.
Dennis Waterman played Jeremiah, who has only a couple of months to live and longs to take his sailboat for one last voyage.
The film, which was shot in Adelaide in South Australia, premiered at Adelaide's Young at Heart Festival in February 2020.
Waterman found fame in his teens in William, the BBC's adaptation of Just William, and became one of the best-known faces on British television in the 1970s when he played Det Sgt George Carter opposite John Thaw in ITV's police drama The Sweeney.
He enjoyed more success in Minder from 1979 to 1989 as Terry McCann, the bodyguard and partner to George Cole's wheeler dealer Arthur Daley.
Waterman went on to star in the comedies On the Up and Stay Lucky, before another popular and long-running role as another Cockney detective in New Tricks, which ran from 2003 to 2015.
The actor was also the target of a caricature on the BBC series Little Britain, where David Walliams would play his as a comically-small man, who would "write the theme tune and sing the theme tune" for his new job offers - just as he had done with Minder and other shows.
Matt Lucas, one half of Little Britain, was among the stars to pay tribute to Waterman on Sunday, tweeting: "I grew up watching Dennis Waterman's iconic performances in The Sweeney and Minder.
"His guest appearance in our Little Britain Live show at Hammersmith Apollo - in which he hilariously duetted with David's absurd impersonation of him - remains the absolute highlight of my career."
