Victor Meldrew actor Richard Wilson suffers heart attack
The One Foot in the Grave star suffered a heart attack earlier this week.
Actor Richard Wilson has pulled out of his Edinburgh Festival Fringe show after suffering a heart attack.
The 80-year-old was in a stable condition in hospital, his agent John Grant confirmed.
Wilson had been due to reprise his role as Victor Meldrew, the grumpy pensioner in BBC comedy One Foot In The Grave.
His 12-night run – billed as I Don’t Believe It! An Evening with Victor Meldrew – was due to begin on Tuesday at the Assembly Roxy.
He first appeared as the eternally grumpy Meldrew in 1990.
The BBC One show went on to run for six series, winning the Bafta for Best Comedy in 1992.
Meldrew was killed off in the final episode but the actor was due to bring him back to life for the new stage show.
He had promised fans that the infamous catchphrase “I don’t believe it!” has not mellowed either.
“I think Victor is around 80 now,” he told The Guardian.
“But I am playing him at roughly 74. He has not changed one bit.
“In fact, it’s quite hard to get back to my normal, affable, lovable self after being him, even for half an hour.”
Last year, Wilson opened up about being outed by the press.
The actor only publicly acknowledged his sexuality for the first time in 2013 – after being listed in a list of prominent gay people by ‘Time Out’ magazine.
He told the Guardian: “I was officially ‘outed’ by Time Out a couple of years ago. They included me in a list of influential gays.
“I didn’t mind – because I am gay – but I did think I’d better warn my sister, who had probably guessed anyway.”
