Showbiz

Ex-Corrie actor battling cancer in hospital

Published Wednesday, Aug 4 2010, 04:01 BST | By Christian Tobin

Geoffrey Hughes has suffered a cancer relapse, it has been revealed.

The former Coronation Street and Keeping Up Appearances actor is thought to be gravely ill in hospital as his wife Sue keeps a bedside vigil.

The 66-year-old had supposedly beaten prostate cancer after treatment last year, but was taken to hospital on Friday after he collapsed with back pains in his Isle of Wight home.

Hughes has undergone intense radiotherapy at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, according to The Sun.

A source said: "Geoffrey is not in a very good way. He is undergoing heavy radiotherapy and is in terrible discomfort. He thought he was over the worst after his treatment last year so it was a massive shock to find out it had returned.

"He's a fighter and he is doing his damnedest to try to beat it again. Sue is showering him with love but it is an awful situation."

Hughes played Corrie binman Eddie Yeats for more than nine years during the 1970s and 1980s, as well as guest-starring in The Royle Family, Skins and Doctor Who.