This Country star Michael Sleggs has reportedly died aged 33.
The actor, who played Slugs in Charlie and Daisy May Cooper’s BBC Three comedy series, is thought to have died last night.
His friend Camilla-Alicia Bates said that her “absolute rock” had died “just before midnight” on July 9.
“So grateful I got to spend his final resting with him and so glad he is out of pain and at peace,” she wrote on Twitter. “I love you forever.”
Sleggs previously revealed that he was in palliative care at home after suffering from a heart condition, telling fans that “deterioration has been fairly rapid.”
The Twitter account for WTAF This Country, a podcast dedicated to the hit mockumentary-style show, led the tributes on social media, writing: “We are devastated! Our friend, the man the legend Michael Sleggs #Slugs passed away last night. RIP Michael. You are one in a million."
This Country producer Simon Mayhew-Archer described the actor as “a fantastic, talented man who brought tremendous joy to all who knew him and saw him,” adding: “I loved working with him & will miss him.”
Trevor Cooper, who plays Len Clifton on the show and is uncle to Charlie and Daisy May, wrote: "So sad to hear that lovely Michael Sleggs who played Slugs in This Country has died. He's had a fairly awful time with illness in the past few months but he was great fun an [sic] we'll all miss him."
Fans on Twitter praised Sleggs as “an underappreciated comic genius” who “played Sugs to perfection” and said that the show “won’t be the same” without him.
Discussing his health problems in a Facebook post shared earlier this year, Sleggs said that he had been “blessed with the best life and the best friends.”
The Cooper siblings based the character of Slugs on Sleggs, who "didn't realise the character was anything to do with him" at first, Charlie revealed.
"He went up to Daisy during filming and goes, 'I know who the character is based on,'" the writer and actor told Cotswold Life. "And Daisy's like, 'Yeah, I'm sorry mate. I hope you're all right with that.' And he said, 'It's Paul Fisher isn't it?'"
In October, Sleggs confirmed that he had signed a contract to publish his book Memoirs of a 90s School Boy, which he described as "a comedy / biography about [his] time at primary school and the different people [he] met there."
