Respects paid to Friday Night Dinner star Paul Ritter, who dies aged 54
Robert Popper, the creator of the Channel 4 comedy about a Jewish family, and co-star Tracy-Ann Oberman, join flood of tributes to the actor
The Friday Night Dinner star Paul Ritter has passed away aged just 54, his agent has said.
The TV star, known for his role as the father Martin in the popular Channel 4 series, as well as playing Anatoly Dyatlov in the critically-acclaimed Chernobyl, had been suffering from a brain tumour.
“It is with great sadness we can confirm that Paul Ritter passed away last night,” said a statement.
“He died peacefully at home with his wife Polly and sons Frank and Noah by his side. He was 54 and had been suffering from a brain tumour.
“Paul was an exceptionally talented actor playing an enormous variety of roles on stage and screen with extraordinary skill. He was fiercely intelligent, kind and very funny. We will miss him greatly.”
The actor was best known for playing Martin Goodman in the long-running sitcom, which centres around Shabbat dinner at the Goodman household, a secular Jewish family from north London.
Co-star, Tracy-Ann Oberman, who played Auntie Val in the series, paid moving tribute to Paul as “the most brilliant clever and truthful actor.”
“Some of the funniest times of my life was working on night shoots with him on Friday Night Dinner shoving a fox in a car, or watching him stand on a dustbin trying to get a plastic bag off a tree top,” she said.
She added: “He was a true artist and a true mentor.”
The sitcom’s creator, Robert Popper, said he was “devastated by this terribly sad news”.
Paying tribute to Ritter, he said: “Paul was a lovely, wonderful human being. Kind, funny, super caring and the greatest actor I ever worked with.”
The actor also had roles as Eldred Worple in Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince and as Guy Haines in James Bond film Quantum Of Solace.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
