Barry Chuckle, one half of famous comedy duo the Chuckle Brothers, has died at the age of 73, his manager said.

The veteran entertainer - real name Barry Elliott - had worked for decades alongside his brother Paul Chuckle.

The Chuckle Brothers' official Facebook page's last update showed Barry grinning.

It was shared on August 3rd at 11.56am with the caption: "Hooray it's Friday. Tag a friend to see Barry."

(Image: Facebook)

A picture of Barry was shared to his Twitter page in June 2018, showing him smiling while sunbathing in his garden.

It was captioned: "While Pauls away I can slack abit."

Shortly after his death was announced, details about Barry's deteriorating health emerged.

While his cause of death has not been publicly confirmed, it was revealed that he'd had to cancel a raft of upcoming summer work commitments because of concerns over his health.

(Image: Instagram)

Barry became ill towards the end of filming the brothers' Channel 5 comeback show Chuckle Time, and took the decision to rest for the summer for the sake of his health.

Sadly, he deteriorated over the last few weeks and never fully recovered.

Just last night, brother Paul was in Glasgow watching Sooty, and shared a picture on his Instagram hanging out with the yellow puppet - but Barry was nowhere in sight.

Manager Phil Dale said in a statement to the Press Association: "It is with great sadness that the family announce that Barry passed away peacefully at his home surrounded by his wife Ann and all his family."



He added: "The family would like to express their thanks to the many people who have been fans of the Chuckle Brothers and they know that they will share in part the great, great loss they feel."

"There will be no further comment at the moment and it would be much appreciated if the privacy of Barry's family is respected at this most difficult time."

Barry, he added, "leaves 50 years of laughter as his legacy which is something very special".



His comedy partner Paul said in a touching statement: "I've not just lost my brother, I've lost my theatrical partner of many, many years and my very best friend."

(Image: PA)

In a tweet later sent from his official Twitter, Paul's partner Sue said he was "absolutely devastated".

"Paul has asked me to send a message to thank EVERYONE for your lovely messages this morning, he is absolutely devastated so unable to respond himself but your messages really do help and he knows Barry would so happy to know how much he was loved, Sue X," she tweeted.

The Chuckle Brothers - real names Barry and Paul Elliott - were best known for their hit BBC children's show ChuckleVision, which ran from 1987 to 2009.

It featured catchphrases like 'To me, to you' and often focused on slapstick humour to reel in audiences.

It's since emerged that Barry was suffering from ill health for more than a year before his death as he and Paul failed to attend their older brother Jimmy Elliott's wedding day.

He was marrying 26-year-old ChuckleVision fan, Amy Phillips, whose mum said after the big day: "Supposedly Barry was ill, that's all I know."

Back in May, Barry and Paul were forced to furiously deny claims their relationship was becoming frayed ahead of their TV comeback with Channel 5's ChuckleTime.

(Image: Daily Mirror) (Image: Daily Mirror)

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

The brothers hit back at the claims, branding them "utter rubbish".

Barry tweeted: "Don’t newspapers come up with some incredible, stupid, lying stories, from a ‘reliable’ source, of course!

"Anyone who knows Paul and I, knows we couldn’t be closer brothers, mates and partners and we’ve never stopped working. Utter rubbish,from a most angry loving ‘big’ brother!"

(Image: PA)

(Image: Daily Mirror)

Paul added: "We are two grown men who do not share a hotel bedroom! If a theatre has enough dressing rooms of course we take one each, why not? Does that constitute a feud?

"The Mrs drives us BOTH everywhere, if not check with @ Hull_Trains and @ VirginTrains when we are BOTH regularly seen together!

"We have always both enjoyed the work we have been privileged to do. It's a sad state of affairs when after 55 years to read such rubbish!"

Only this year, the stars were rumoured to be joining the Celebrity Big Brother line-up.

And, when asked, they said they'd love to be on the show.

"I'd probably do Celebrity Big Brother. We were asked and they were talking to us about it but nothing came of it," Paul revealed in March 2018.

"I think they thought we weren’t nasty enough," he continued - adding that they would only agree to appear on the show on the condition there would be "whisky in there and not just beer and wine".

At the time, Barry said he thought they'd be too old to appear on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!.

"I would have done I'm A Celebrity a few years ago, but I think I'm getting a bit past it now. I'm not sure I could do all those things that they want you to do," he added.

Benidorm fans were thrilled to see Barry and Paul join the cast of Benidorm for its recent 10th series.

The brothers played a magician and his assistant - with Barry dressing up in drag for his role and winning comparisons to Mary Berry and Val from Emmerdale for his efforts.