Leah Bracknell’s widower has said watching Ricky Gervais’ After Life helped him grieve for the actress.
The Emmerdale star, 55, died in September after a three-year battle with lung cancer.
Jez Hughes revealed he watched the Netflix series about a middle-aged man trying to cope with his wife’s death from breast cancer and related to the plight of Ricky’s character.
He said of the show: “It was bitingly close to the bone but there were moments that captured something honest and true, which I suppose is the point of all art – the moment where we are able to step out of the cage of isolation into something greater than ourselves through shared experience.”
Soap favourite Leah, who left behind daughters Lily and Maya, was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer in 2016.
She played Zoe Tate on Emmerdale from 1989 to 2005.
Jez said Ricky’s drama had helped him realise that with death, “I have no choice”.
He explained: “When you come that close to it with someone who you share your heart, you begin to understand and experience death in a completely new and visceral way.
It’s certainly nothing to be romanticised.
“You understand that often, we have no choice – our excessive belief in free will in modernity is just another illusion.
“There are fates and forces at work that are far beyond our understanding or ability to change.”
Opening up about his loss on Facebook , Jez added: “A thought came to me yesterday that I’m going to have to completely rebuild my life. No one expects to become a widower at 46.
Even the word is an odd one.
“In a way, I’m glad there is a name, a transitional identity or framing of an
experience that is so huge, so beyond words, that threatens to overwhelm at every turn.”
