“Bye-de-Bye” tribute to Hi-de-Hi! actor Paul Shane
Hundreds of people stood in bright sunshine outside Rotherham Minster as the Hi-de-Hi! star’s coffin was carried inside.
Other well-known faces from the hit 80s sitcom joined Shane’s family behind the pallbearers, including Su Pollard, Jeffrey Holland and Ruth Madoc.
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Hide AdPollard said to the crowd: “Thanks for coming. He would have been so pleased.”
Shane died at the age of 72 following a short illness a fortnight ago. There was applause in Rotherham town centre after the cortege arrived yesterday afternoon with a police escort.
Yellow and white flowers in the side window of the hearse spelt out “Bye-de-Bye”.
Shane’s costume, worn by his character, Ted Bovis, was hanging next to a photograph of the character at the front of church service.
Holland remembered his friend in a eulogy during the service. He said: “Thanks for all those wonderful times, but most of thank you for all the fun.”
Holland, who played Bovis’s sidekick Spike in Hi-de-Hi!, said he worked with Shane for 18 years. “In all that time, the one thing that sticks in my mind is fun,” he told the congregation.
And he led a rendition of the “Hi-de-Hi, Ho-de-Ho” shout, saying: “Let’s have it one more time for Shaney.”
The service included music from the Barnburgh Male Voice Choir and a poem read by Amy Wragg, Shane’s youngest granddaughter.
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Hide AdThe actor died surrounded by friends and family in a hospice in Rotherham.
Shane – born George Frederick Speight – was a coalminer before starting out as a cabaret act touring workingmen’s clubs in the 1960s.
As well as Hi-de-Hi!, in which he played holiday camp host Bovis, he starred in the TV series You Rang M’Lord? and Oh, Dr Beeching!
He also appeared in Holby City, Doctors, Coronation Street and A Touch of Frost.
Shane is survived by three daughters and six grandchildren. His wife Dory died in 2001.
Outside, Pollard said: “He would have loved today. He would have thought ‘All these people, I must have done something right’. He was just really loved. What a great, great day
for it.”