Chuckle Brothers upset by death hoax

The Chuckle Brothers have criticised hoaxers who have spread rumours online that one of them is dead.

Barry Chuckle, real name Barry Elliot, has spoken to the BBC after reports began to circulate on Twitter that he had passed away.

"First of all I heard it about six or seven months ago and that was on Facebook," he said. "Somebody had put it up there, thinking it was funny, and apparently [it said] our Paul had died at some point as well.

"It went away and now it seems to have come back on Twitter for some reason. If it's on the internet people think it's gospel."

The Rotherham-born comic claimed that the reports upset fans of the double act, revealing that several young children had written to them with concerns.

"They send letters saying, 'Is Paul going to be working on his own now?', and 'we'll miss Barry'," he said. "There's kids in tears so we have to write back to them and tell them it's not true."