I am so very sorry to hear of the unexpected death of my friend and colleague Tim Pigott-Smith.  He was a kind and loving person as well as an actor with an very long, varied and successful career, brilliantly culminating in his recent triumph in King Charles III.

I worked with him on the epic Eugene O’ Neill play Mourning Becomes Electra at the National Theatre  and came to love him as a person as well as an actor. He combined a lovely sense of humour with a great seriousness about his work and was always utterly committed.

We will miss him